Mirai Shinobi: Parabellum
by Man of Wrath
Summary: "Si Vis Pacem, Parabellum: If you want peace, prepare for war" After three years of training, Trunks returns to the Shinobi World to fight a war on three fronts; the Akatsuki... Danzo: The Fifth Hokage... and the Androids. He owed it to this world and his own to bring peace and justice, and now... it's time to deliver. TrunksX? NarutoXFu Beta-reader credits: Masamune X23
1. Welcome To The Mirror-verse (Prologue)

*Knock! Knock!*

A person masked in shadow stood waiting in front of a grand wooden door. The door served as the entrance to what could honestly be called a castle, of the type one would find in a fairy tale wonderland. The sound of faint footsteps could be heard approaching the door from the other side, growing louder and louder as they drew closer... before the door opened.

"Why hello!" a young, pink skinned woman greeted. It was obvious she wasn't human, what with her exotic skin, pointy ears, and long dark purple hair. She was dressed in some sort of black and purple regal garb, "You must be the little tourist I got word about." she opened the door wide and held her hand to the inside, "Come on in."

The shadowed figure did as told, the woman closing the door behind them. Once inside, the individual looked around at the mansion, the home grand in ways fit for a goddess.

"I guess I should introduce myself," the pink skinned woman said as she walked in front of the nameless individual, "My name is Sekari… the Supreme Kai of Realms, but if you're here, I guess you already knew that, haha!" she put her hands on her hips, "So, what's your name?"

The person opened their mouth, before the Kai raised her hand to interrupt them, "Actually, don't tell me. I have to keep up with so many names, I wouldn't remember yours anyway!" she giggled. She nodded her head to a door behind her, "So, your here because you wanna know what my job is, right? Well, let's go! I'm more than happy to give you the grand tour."

She led the stranger through the door at the back of the castle like home, revealing an unbelievably grand room with 10 massive mirror-like panes hanging suspended against the walls.

One could see various random images appearing within each of the 10 panes.

Sekari walked into the center of the room, each of the panes shifting and moving as she walked. The mirrors grew smaller, until they were as tall as she was and circling around her. With a silent order, the 10 panes lined up behind her.

"As the Supreme Kai of Realms, it's my job to look after the different universes." Sekari said as she held a hand out to the panes, "As you can count, there's 10 of them."

The voiceless individual walked up beside her, the two having a close look at the 10 different universes.

Sekari continued, "Each universe is quite unique, with its own expansive set of stars and galaxies, set of existing characters, and sequence of events… all that I have to learn and memorize. But that's actually the simple part. The _complicated_ part of my job comes with something I like to call… the web."

The visitor opened their mouth, but Sekari cut them off before they could say a word, "Each universe has a timeline, _one _timeline that we label the _true _timeline. The _web_ is what I call the never-ending series of alternate timelines that branch off of the true timeline… all of these alternate timelines being worlds that I have to observe, and make sure _never _cross… and that's not all!" she said with a forced smile, "Each Universe has a _mirror _universe attached to it, sort of like a cassette tape," she pointed to one of the mirrors, the pane turning to a complete 180, "The mirror universe is actually a universe of its own, but its not unique enough from the universe it mirrors to be given its own pane separate from it." Sekari let out a heavy sigh, "_And_ each mirrored verse has _its _own set of stars and galaxies, set of existing characters, and sequence of events that I have to look after, also."

She flipped the mirror back around.

"So that's _really _a total of _twenty _different universes I have to look after… fun right?!" she said with a twitch in her eye. She regained her composure, "But you know what, I think I'll give you a little rundown on the various Universes, and how I keep them organized."

She pointed her finger to the pane on the far left, "Each individual pane is lettered off, and the sides of the pane is numbered off; as in," she brought the pane closer, "this pane here, a rather bizarre world centered around the 'Joestar' family, is connected to Universe J, but is side 1 to a 2 sided mirror, so we call it J1, get it?"

The nameless stranger nodded.

"Good!" Sekari said, "Universe J2," she flipped the mirror around, "is centered around a man who wanders an apocalyptic wasteland searching for his kidnapped fiancee." she sent back the pane and pulled up the next one, "Universe I1, is centered in a world of Alchemy, the events revolving around 2 brothers attempting to turn their bodies back to normal, all after a failed attempt at resurrecting their deceased mother… the story told by that world is rather beautiful." she said as she flipped the pane, "Universe I2, takes place in a world where man-eating giants have forced humanity to the brink of extinction. The central character is a boy who had to watch his mother get eaten by one of those giants right before his eyes... probably one of the most grim and horrifying realms of the bunch, if I say so myself."

Sekari pushed back the pane and brought up the next one, "Universe H1, is centered around a highschool where Devils and Angels are anything but myth. Universe H2, is also centered around a highschool… only _this _particular highschool is strictly for monsters only… the central character is a human unlucky enough to find himself enrolled at this school."

The next pane came forward, "Universe G1; a world of Pirates, strange fruits, and dream chasers… 'nuff said. Universe G2; a mystical world of Wizarding Guilds… once again, 'nuff said." Sekari smiled at the next pane that floated forward, "Universe F1 is set in a brutal world ruled by an oppressive Empire. The story revolves around a group of assassins who work to take down the empire notch by notch… hm, you _really_ don't wanna get attached to anone in _that _Universe. Universe F2, like its F1 counterpart, is set in a world where a ragtag bunch of _sinners _have to save their land from a tyrannical kingdom."

Sekari sighed in exhaustion as she brought up the next in line, "Okay! Universe E1 is centered around a white haired half-devil with dog-ears and a sword... hey, don't give me that look! It makes sense in context! Gosh! Universe E2, is centered around a red haired samurai who doesn't kill people… that one also makes sense in context!"

The Supreme Kai aggressively pushed back the pane and pulled forward the next one, "Ooh! This world, I love! Universe D1 is set in a world where cute little monsters are caught, collected, and trained to fight each other, yes! I know! It sounds cruel, but these creatures 9 times out of 10 form genuine friendships with their trainers. It's a really cute world, honestly. Universe D2, is a world of _digital _monsters that are used to fight _evil _monsters in the real world of that Universe."

Next pane, "Universe C1, a world of superheroes and a boy's journey to become a hero like his idol. Universe C2, a world centered around a boy who… _hunts _for his missing father… a world that can get surprisingly dark..."

Next pane, "Universe B1, a world where a hot-headed boy becomes a shinigami to kill off evil spirits and send the good ones to the afterlife. Universe B2, a world where a delinquent _dies _and becomes a detective of the spirit world who hunts down rogue demons."

The last pane came forward, eliciting a deep sigh in exasperation from the Kai, "Finally, we're down to the last. Now, this Universe, A1, is one you might be familiar with; the world of magical orbs, martial artists, and alien warriors. And then you have another world you may be familiar with as well, Universe A2, the world of ninja and tailed monsters. Believe it or not, these two Universes are my favorite." she sent back the other panes to their original positions, thus keeping the Universe A pane the only one left in front of her,

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret about Universe A1, one that other Kai's wouldn't tell you." she said as she leaned in to the strangers ear, "The DragonBall timeline that everyone knows; ya know, where Goku comes to Earth as a baby, hits his head, loses his memories, and becomes a savior that stops King Piccolo, the saiyans, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu? Well, that's technically not the _true _timeline… even though that's the one everyone is familiar with. You remember that 'Web' I told you about earlier? Well, that's where _it _comes in." she folded her arms, "You see, in one of the _other _timelines, a boy traveled back through time in hopes of creating a better world than the one he grew up in. The timeline he traveled into is, of course, the timeline you're familiar with. Unfortunately, we can't consider a timeline that's been tainted by _time travel _as the _'true' _timeline. Thus, the timeline that Trunks, the time traveler, came from is more in line with what we've come to label as the true timeline. In _his _timeline, Son Goku dies of a heart virus, and later on, the other heroes of that timeline get murdered by a pair of Androids that make the world their playground. Fortunately for Trunks, by going back in time to save Goku and train with his father, Vegeta, he manages to help save the alternate timeline he created, _and _his own world when he went back home to kill the Androids and Cell. Hooray for him, he got to live happily ever after."

Sekari's voice then got serious, "_**But**_, even _that _isn't considered the true timeline… believe it or not. You see, in the timeline you're familiar with, which I'll just call the 'popular timeline', it's easy to overlook one other factor… Cell. The Cell who became a major enemy in the popular timeline, _actually _time traveled before Trunks did. When Trunks changed the popular timeline by killing Frieza before Goku could arrive, Cell had already been around for a few years _before _Trunks arrived. Cell's presence in the popular timeline, affected the Trunks who time traveled to _that _particular timeline as well… and in a pretty major way."

She brushed her purple hair out of her eyes, "Trunks, by dealing with the Cell that time traveled to the popular timeline, managed to become strong enough to kill the Androids and Cell of his _own _timeline with brute force. He _only _became strong enough to accomplish this due to encountering _another _time traveler in Cell, which means that Trunks timeline, was effectively tainted by time travel."

"So," she continued, "let's take a look into Cell's timeline, shall we… well here, Goku dies of the heart virus, the Z-Warriors are killed by the Androids, Trunks goes back in time to another timeline to give Goku the antidote, _but_ because Trunks never encounters Cell, he finds another way to stop the Androids of his timeline... by uncovering their emergency shut-off switch. Once Trunks uses that switch and destroys them, he prepares to go back in time once more to spread the good news… only for Cell to jump him, murder him, and take his time machine to the popular timeline where, well, you already know."

Sekari folded her arms, "So, Cell's timeline, being the only timeline that hasn't _really_ been tainted, is the _true _timeline. And in the _true _timeline, Goku dies of a heart virus, the Z-Warriors are brutally murdered, and the saiyan race is effectively extinct." she smiles,

"Depressing, isn't it? I'd say it's almost nihilistic." the Supreme Kai shook her head, before she looked back at the stranger, "But the True Timeline isn't the only 'dark' reality of Universe A1. You see, the web contains literally _countless _realities and timelines based on things that could have been. Every event that transpired in the True Timeline and even the alternate timelines, have alternate realities that branch off from them, and alternate realities of those alternate realities, and so forth, thus creating the web."

The pane showed flashes of different events, "There are _so many _timelines where Goku _didn't_ hit his head as a baby… meaning he remembered and carried out his saiyan duties, for all the horrors that brought. There are timeline's where Raditz murdered Goku and Piccolo and kidnapped Gohan, thus molding the child into a brutal warrior that served under Vegeta; one of the more interesting realities in my opinion. There are timelines where Vegeta killed Goku during the two saiyans legendary battle on Earth. Realities where Goku never transformed into a super saiyan against Frieza are common. It's simple how that happens. When the tyrant survived Goku's spirit bomb, he kills _Piccolo _instead of Krillin, which unfortunately isn't a big enough push to send Goku over the edge. Of course Goku and the others died on Namek as a result, as well as the Earth itself when Frieza made his way there for vengeance. There are tons of timelines where Gohan lost to Cell at the Cell Games, the poor boy never finding the strength within himself to overpower Cell's Kamehameha. There are realities where Majin Buu devoured all of the fighters in the Universe he wanted, realities where Broly murdered all of the Z-Warriors, and the list goes on and on."

The Kai smiled, "Sucks for them. I've even spotted some odd timelines where Goku marries Bulma instead of Chi-Chi, where Vegito never unfused, and where Bardock successfully rallied the saiyans against Frieza in a full-scale mass rebellion."

She flipped the pane around, "All those realities, and that's just A1. A2, is actually a tad bit less complicated, seeing as there was no time travel involved. In the realm of ninja's, an orphaned outcast goes to the edge of the world to try to save his best friend, all while pursuing his dream of becoming a respected leader. In the true timeline of this realm, he succeeds! But that doesn't mean the web doesn't have its share of dark timelines for _this _Universe as well…"

The images started flashing, "There are _tons _of timelines where Naruto _never _passes the genin exams, the poor boy. There are timeline's where Sakura and Sasuke failed Kakashi's test by not giving Naruto their food during the bell test, ensuring the three of them were sent back to the Academy… as a result they were split up and given different jonin. There are timeline's where Tazuna was assassinated by Zabuza during Team 7's mission to Wave. There are timeline's where Orochimaru killed Naruto and Sakura during the Chunin Exams and successfully stole Sasuke's body. Dozens of timelines where Gaara killed Sasuke and Naruto during the invasion are common, as well as timelines where Sasuke killed Naruto at the Valley of the End. What else am I missing? Ooh, I spotted a timeline here and there where Madara puts EVERYONE in the world under genjutsu, where Kaguya successfully kills Team 7 and takes back all of her Chakra... the list goes on and on." she shrugged.

"I already told you, my job is to keep these Universes from crossing over each other… which, you _may _think doesn't happen often, but it does! A lot!" She pointed to the pane, "And when it _does _happen, I normally have to step _into _that particular Universe's timestream and either A, get rid of the rift that bridges the two Universe's, or B, if things get bad enough, erase the time streams of the two crossed verses altogether. For example, once, in a timeline of A1, Bulma Briefs created a machine _specifically _to open the doors to other dimensions… and guess what happened... Son Gohan fell into that machine and wound up in Universe A2. Unfortunately, after a while, I had to erase that timestream… which _really _sucks because I was getting myself invested in the story of that little dilemma_._" she shook her head.

"I'll also let you in on a little secret of mine… _nobody _keeps tabs on what I do! So, technically, I can do whatever I want. To keep myself from getting bored, I actually do like to see what happens in certain crossed universes. Just so I can avoid making the same mistake of killing off interesting stories, I tend to separate certain crossover timelines into my own little… I guess you can call it a secret portfolio. One of these crossover timelines that I've kept to myself, is centered around young Trunks, in a timeline much like the true timeline, though with a few changes. In this timeline, an accident with the time machine sent the boy and his mother into the world of ninja. The events that transpired… could honestly be called a tragedy for the world of ninja."

Sekari grinned, "And we're gonna watch."

XXX

A/N: Figured I'd give you guys an idea of how the multiverse is structured in this Universe (Yes, I'm ignoring DragonBall Super rules).

Call it the mirror-verse, or the Wrath-verse, if you will.

As expected, I structured the mirror-verse around anime I love. Although most of them were pretty damn blatantly obvious, I wonder if you guys can pick out every anime within' the mirror-verse.

As far as the Supreme Kai goes, 'Sekari', she mainly serves as an Author Avatar, while the faceless 'visitor' is you guys, the reader. She was a fun way for me to explain the world without me giving you a long ass authors note about it, haha!

Catch you guys in chapter 1!


	2. Days Gone By

A/N: This is the sequel to my story Mirai Shinobi. If you haven't read that fic, I encourage you to, for knowing the events of that story are crucial to this one.

For my returning readers, welcome back!

WARNING: Since this is a sequel, and you're reading it, that should mean you have an idea of how I deal with power levels. If you have an issue with a DBZ character taking a hit from a powerful Naruto character every once in a while, turn back now. I am not going through the same thing I did in Mirai Shinobi in regards to power levels. Do not fight me over them, you will _**never **_win. If I get complaints about power levels in my review section, they will be deleted. If you have an account, I will block you. That is my only warning.

Second, I put this story in the **M-rated** section **for a reason**. In the original I kinda tip-toed around this rating, but now it's no-holds barred.

**Anything goes.**

Enjoy!

"This is talking."

'This is thinking.'

"**This is an attack."/ 'This is an attack.' **(Whether a character calls their attack name or thinks their attack name will vary based on the situation.)

_This is a flashback / dream sequence_

_*This is a voice in someone's head*_

XXX

Three years…

Such a small amount of time given the events that transpired during that time in the Shinobi world.

Three years ago, a boy and his mother appeared in the world of ninja. The nature of the boy allowed him to survive his journey with few, yet nasty injuries... while his mother, wasn't quite as blessed.

In exchange for the Hidden Leaf nursing his mother, the boy lent the village his fists and his sword.

After getting settled, he'd quickly made a name for himself in this new world, his inhuman levels of power leaving quite the impression on the populace. The boy made genuine friends, rivals, and allies, some of which he could even call family. However, with making friends and allies there also came enemies.

Not long after his awakening, his presence in the world of shinobi became a beacon, a beacon that resulted in other beings from his world making their way into the shinobi world as well.

The first set of beings was in the form of allies, so it wasn't all bad.

But, as Murphy's Law would state, the law being anything that _can _go wrong will go wrong… things did.

Soon enough, the monsters that brought the boys home to ruin made their way into the world of shinobi as well… to bring just as much chaos to the new world as they did the old one.

As most humans need something to blame when tragedy strikes, a scapegoat was chosen. The Brief's, ever the unfortunate ones, had fingers pointed at them. Because of the Leaf's need for a scapegoat, the Briefs were exiled from the Leaf. All this in hopes it would keep their enemies from finding the village in search of them.

But, thankfully, their friends and allies followed with them. Having chosen to side with the Briefs instead of their village leader, the group left the villag alongside them. Needless to say, Danzo was anything but happy when he found out.

Despite the Brief's having reached their lowest low, a ray of hope still shined through.

An unexpected arrival to the ninja world in the form of a long lost Saiyan from Trunks dimension appeared. This Saiyan was none other than Bardock, the father of the former champion of Earth, Son Goku. The Saiyan accepted Trunks after battling each other for his acknowledgement. Possessing a traditional saiyan mentality, lifetime of battle experience coupled with a level of power one could only achieve with saiyan blood, the older Saiyan fought the androids and nearly claimed victory over the twin terrors as he proved that they could be beaten through overwhelming force.

In order to prepare for the final battle with the Androids, as well as the other major threats presented in the ninja world, Trunks went off with Bardock to train out in the stars, leaving behind his loved ones to train and prepare in their own ways on earth.

Three years they trained, and in three years, things can change.

XXX

The Village of the Hidden Leaf, arguably more so than other village's, had upped its security… to say the least.

If one were able to keep their head above the trees, they'd notice the ninja that were posted over 80 miles out around the village perimeter, the men and women perched like birds atop the tips of trees to keep their eyes on the sky.

If any shinobi caught a glimpse of something soaring through the sky, they'd send a message back to the village's Hokage, who would in turn order the villagers to be pushed into underground safety shelters to wait out the threat.

That was one means of keeping the populace safe.

So far the three years passed, and to the relief of the public, the androids hadn't invaded their village. It seemed the twins were plenty busy with their new lives in the village they took for themselves.

Still, that didn't stop them from going to other towns and destroying or ransacking them for kicks.

The Hokage, not wanting to take any chances with the Androids spotting one of his own, restricted all travels between villages; for both civilian and shinobi. The civilians, for the most part, weren't complaining. Not many people had plans for travel given the risks they'd face if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Shinobi, well, their place was in their village regardless, so there wasn't much of a loss on their end. Due to the village needing to keep its economy flowing, only higher ranked ninja such as experienced Chunin and Jonin were allowed to leave the village on missions, but this only encouraged more ninja to pursue promotion at a faster rate.

How certain shinobi adapted to these changes over the years… varied.

Gai re-entered the village with his Chunin and Jonin, his relationship with them turning into more of a camaraderie than an apprentice-student dynamic. He looked between Tenten and Neji, noticing the strain between the two having grown greater over time. He noticed it in the way they interacted. They no longer spoke to each other as friends, if they spoke to each other at all. They'd hardly even stood within 10 feet of each other, the two teens barely able to stand each other's presence.

They wouldn't voice it to him, but Gai knew what shattered his team's bond.

Neji was among those who called for the Brief's banishment. When Tenten allied herself with them, Neji found the kunoichi's judgment to be less than stellar. When Lee, arguably the heart and soul of the team, left to chase after Trunks and his family to be branded a traitor, all of Neji's respect for his teammate was turned to dust. Tenten, still standing by what Neji viewed as a group of traitors and liabilities, lost the Hyuga's respect as well.

The feeling was mutual.

Gai sighed and shook his head, knowing that the bond between his genin-turned-chunin and jonin, may never be mended.

**(Third Training Ground)**

A young woman with long navy-blue hair went through various kata's known exclusively by her clan. Her lavender eyes were hard and focused, showing a level of intensity that heavily contrasted her soft features.

She had grown in a lot of ways, physically and figuratively. Physically, she wasn't a little girl anymore. Her body had grown and matured into that of a woman, a woman that any man could call beautiful.

Kurenai watched, both impressed and worried as she noticed the improvement in Hinata's form. Impressed, because now, Hinata had managed to soar in ways that Kurenai could only dream of. When the heiress was younger there was always something holding her back from reaching her full potential. Now, she displayed a level of skill that put her on par with Neji, which showed the something in her holding her back seemed to have been killed off.

This worried the jonin because that something that was killed off, was now replaced by something that was… dark.

While meek, Hinata was always warm, kind and polite almost to a fault.

Now, she was different. Now she was cold, distant, and noticeably angry. Her actions showed much aggression, her speech was now blunter and to the point, lacking its trademark stutter and her addressing of her peers lacked her usual use of honorifics.

If one asked Hinata if she were upset, they'd get a pretty honest answer.

The Hyuga threw a palm strike at her invisible enemy, an enemy only she could see.

Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and the rest of their allies served as Hinata's opponents. She knew, that if she were to bring Naruto back home, she'd have to go through his friends in order to reach him. She knew, that in order to bring him back to the Leaf, kicking and screaming if it came to that, she'd have to completely overwhelm him; shut down every ounce of chakra he had and then cripple him if need be.

To be mentally prepared for the day they crossed paths, Hinata took all of the self-loathing she felt towards herself; the fact that she didn't leave with him, that she didn't tell him how she felt before he left, that she didn't step up and side with him when he came at odds with Shikamaru and the others; and turned it into anger that she'd use to motivate herself.

Of course, she did have quite a bit of anger pent up towards Naruto himself; the fact that he would just throw away his dream despite everything he worked towards, the fact that he would just forfeit his life by leaving, the fact that he would allow his attention to be occupied by some other girl, only to leave with her in the end.

Hinata knew she'd have to use that anger if she were to confront him, otherwise, she'd never be able to hurt him.

She turned and threw her palm into one of the nearby tree stumps, the bark on the other side shattering with a gunshot like pop.

Kurenai continued to watch her student worriedly.

And this was to say nothing of Kiba…

XXX

Shikamaru walked through a section of village undergoing heavy re-construction, the young genius passing by various villagers hard at work. He looked to his left and to his right each way he walked, the Jonin obviously in search of something, something he hadn't seen in months.

"Shikamaru!"

The Nara looked up, seeing just the man he was looking for atop one of the building skeletons, looking down on him with a smile.

"Choji!"

The Akimichi, dressed in a workman's jumpsuit, jumped down, landing in front of his best friend. Choji had lost considerable weight, his brown hair long and down his back. The loss of weight made sense, given what the Akimichi had been busy with the last few months.

Shikamaru smiled and raised an eyebrow, "They got you on construction detail?"

Choji shook his head, crossing his arms, "Nah, I _choose _to be here." He scratched the back of his head, "You know, to-"

"Help keep your mind off her." Shikamaru finished for him. He shook his head as he looked down, "Heh, I gotta hand it to her. Wherever she went, she's picked a good hiding place." he looked up, "No one _anywhere's _been able to get eyes on her."

Choji nodded, the Akimichi looking up and huffing, "Yeah… I like to think she's okay."

"She is." Shikamaru said, "Hm, I dunno _how_, but I know she is." Of course he knew how, _she _was surrounded by people stronger than all comprehension. The two young men knew this, it's why they could talk about _her _without a sense of mourning.

The Nara looked around, the construction still happening, "Crazy world we live in, we got psycho robots flying around whacking village's yet _ours _gets hit by a 50 foot shit-slinger."

Choji chuckled, "Heh, a year later and everyone's just accepted it. I guess it makes sense though, especially when a giant _fox _tore up the village much worse just 16 years ago."

"Figures." Shikamaru said, looking up at the halfway finished building Choji was working on. This was completely against his nature, but for Choji, he'd ask, "Want a hand?"

**(Elsewhere in the Village)**

Sasuke stood at the edge of one of the buildings, the Uchiha outfitted in Jonin attire.

He'd grown taller over the years, as expected. Instead of the usual Jonin flak jacket, Sasuke wore his own custom black vest over the jonin jumpsuit, the Uchiha-clan crest designed into the back of the vest.

Having taken a bit of inspiration from his old teammates, Sasuke now wielded a chokuto sword at his waist, a blade he'd taken a personal liking to.

He'd grown strong over the years. Much stronger than he'd _ever _imagined. But, the question, the only question he cared about… was he _skilled _enough…

Three years ago, Itachi had proven he could take his little brother on skill alone, even on an equal power footing.

So how could Sasuke change that? His brother was a gifted shinobi long before Sasuke could even form words in his mouth, so how could Sasuke even reduce the skill difference?

The thought gnawed at him to painful degrees.

His eyes stayed trained on a particular section of village, the section that was undergoing heavy reconstruction due to… an incident that transpired a year ago.

"And today marks the three year anniversary." a feminine voice said from behind Sasuke. The Uchiha recognized it instantly, the survivor knowing he wouldn't have to turn to address it. Shimura approached the survivor from behind, "You still thinkin' about'em?"

"...Nope." Sasuke said.

"Oooh, that's cold." Hattori said with a small smirk, folding her arms.

"Says the one who voted in favor of his banishment." Sasuke said, his eyes glued out over the village, "Besides, I don't need to worry about them... because I know they're fine."

Shimura huffed and looked away, "He would've gotten kicked out regardless. I only gave my opinion on the matter."

"Wanna tell me why you're here." Sasuke ordered, more than asked.

"The old man wants you on an escort mission." Hattori said, the 20 year old turning away from Sasuke and heading toward the building ledge.

"Strange, how he hasn't had you on any missions lately." Sasuke said, still looking out over the hidden leaf.

"What can I say," the woman shrugged, "I've had my hands full with… other things." she said before she free fell off the building.

XXX

In a dank cave far from the Land of Fire, nine ghostlike figures gathered at their leaders call.

"The time has come," Pain said to his underlings, "Deidara, Sasori, retrieving the one tail _now _is an absolute must. We _need _the One-Tail before we can extract the others. Now that the Three-Tails has re-emerged, there is no reason for further delay."

"Hm, thy will shall be done." Deidara said sarcastically and with a smirk.

Pain turned to the new addition to his organization, a beautiful red-haired woman with fair-skin, blue-eyes, and a beauty-mark under her left lip corner. She was the one to replace Kisame, "Fuuka, as I tell all of the others, you are to avoid conflict with the synthetic humans. I do not wish to look for a replacement so soon after bringing you into the fold."

The red-haired woman smiled and brushed her hair back behind her shoulders, "Won't have to tell me twice. As you know, I tend to operate best under... subtle means."

Hidan made kissing noises in a mocking manner.

Pain ignored the act, continuing to address Deidara and Sasori, "Do not fail, we cannot afford any more delay."

"We're on it." Deidara said as he and his partner set off, their holograms phasing out.

The others began to phase out as well, Fuuka turning and winking at Itachi, "See you around Itachi-_kun_." before her hologram disappeared.

This left Itachi, Pain, and Konan alone.

"She's a pest." Itachi told his leader. The Uchiha, although he wouldn't admit it, missed his old partner Kisame. He might've been bloodthirsty but he was respectable, kept to himself so as to not bother the Uchiha, and followed his orders.

Konan wouldn't voice it, but she agreed. Fuuka might be obedient, but she found the woman's shameless ways to disgraceful to women as a whole. The fact she also seemed to have her sights on Itachi would've been a cause for concern if they didn't know for a fact she was no match for him. That, and Pain would've killed her for such actions. Nevertheless, that didn't stop her from trying to push the Uchiha's buttons with her flirting.

"But she's effective." The Leader of Akatsuki voiced, "Her ability to paralyze on sight and feed on chakra are of value to me, thus you will tolerate her."

It wasn't like Itachi to complain, but mentally, he groaned, before he phased out as well.

XXX

**(Land of Demons)**

A legion of stone soldiers marched through the land, tearing through all opposition on their path to the Land of Swamps.

"Hold the line! Stand your ground! Don't let a single one of those bastards get through!" A stronghold leader ordered the many shinobi who came to stand against the battalion of living statues.

Many shinobi followed their orders, assaulting the mindless drones with ninjutsu that didn't so much as slow them down. The shinobi were only relentlessly trampled over and crushed like bugs under the heels of the stone battalion.

The stronghold captain looked down at the stone warriors set to completely breach through his defenses. The legion of statues stretched as far as his eye can see, which was to the edge of the horizon.

"Damnit!" The captain cursed as they drew ever closer, "No, no!" A series of high pitched whistles from the skies brought the captains eyes up.

A flurry of wind-spheres shot down like cannonballs from the heavens above, raining over the statues reaching the stronghold gates. The statues were destroyed and turned to so much pebbles.

The shinobi watched in awe as seven figures appeared before the rest of the battalion, as if they simply warped into existence. As if the stone warriors knew of the threat, they stopped walking. They eyed the seven newcomers, the teens standing with an air of confidence that showed the surviving shinobi that they weren't worried about the overwhelming numbers stacked against them.

One of the newcomers was a young woman with red-hair tied back in a loose ponytail, with matching colored glasses and eyes decorating her face. She wore a fishnet shirt underneath a purple sleeveless hoodie, the hoodies waist stopping below her belly-button to show off her stomach.

She stepped over to one of the gravely injured shinobi lying on the ground. The man's legs were crushed.

"Hiya buddy," Karin said cheekily as she kneeled next to the ninja struggling to keep consciousness. She pulled out a senzu bean, "Eat this."

The ninja looked at her like she'd just sprouted a second head, "Wh-Why would I just ea-AAAAAAAAUUUGGHHH!" he screamed out when Karin jabbed her finger in his leg, taking the opportunity to shove the senzu bean in his mouth.

"Good boy." she said as the man swallowed the bean, his injuries healing instantly. He quickly stood up and got off the battlefield.

Sakura rolled her eyes while Ino smiled and shook her head.

"That's one way to do it." Sakura said, the pinkette having grown her hair out longer over the years. Her hair now flowed down her back, much like Sakura had it before the Chunin Exams. Sakura kept her hair held together through a tube in the mid-length, also allowing her hair to frame her face. She was dressed in a red vest over a long sleeved fishnet shirt, cream colored shorts hugging her legs.

"You can't blame her when it gets the job done." Ino shrugged. Much like Sakura, Ino also grew her hair out, keeping it held together with a hair tube midway down her back. She wore a purple, high collared blouse that showed her stomach, and black combat pants.

The one responsible for the assault on the statues stood in front of the others.

"Heh, piece a' cake." Naruto said with a cocky smirk. The whiskered outcast, even more so than his friends, had hit a growth spurt over the years. His bush of blonde hair had grown a bit in length, his lack of headband allowing it to fall all around his head. He wore an orange and black short-sleeved hoodie along with brown combat pants. A black ninjato was strapped to his thigh, the handle custom designed to also resemble a trench knife, "Why don't I just save everyone the effort and take care of the rest myself?"

The whiskered boy carried a young woman on his back.

"Ugh, don't be greedy Naruto." a girl with long, curly, dark blue hair and a red scarf tied in her hair said. Oddly enough about this girl… she had an eye, in the middle of her forehead...

"Tavi's right, Naruto." Lee said with a raised eyebrow, his hair not in the same bowlcut he'd had to mimic Gai. Now it was in a shaggy style similar to before he'd went under the Green Beasts tutelage. The young protege dressed in a sleeveless green-tank and black pants, with white hand wraps that he currently tightened, "You've already destroyed the four assassins on your own, surely you can save the rest of us a bit of action?"

Shinhan buckled her leather fingerless gloves, "And I'm _still _heated about that, just so you know." She was dressed in a black tank top and brown shorts.

Fu grinned and pinched the blonde boys thigh, "Go do your job, _bozo_." she said playfully.

Naruto sighed, before he grinned and turned to the young woman he was carrying on his back, "You see that Shion, you see how mean they are to me?"

"Oh yeah, I see." the priestess said with a grin.

"Don't worry Naruto, we still love ya'." Sakura said as she took a fighting stance, the others following suit.

"Get a move on Naruto, I wanna go home." Karin said in a bored tone.

"Alright," the blonde jinchuriki said, turning back to Shion, "hang on tight Lady Shion!"

He flew off as the others charged at the army of stone statues.

Sakura and Ino shot up into the air, the two girls coming down on the horde of statues; Sakura, with a fist to the ground; Karin, with a kick to the ground that formed a crater for over half-a-mile, destroying dozens of statues in close contact, and sending another several dozen high up into the air.

Lee tapped Shinhan's shoulder so she'd look up, "That's all yours." he said.

"I got'em." the bluenette said as she formed ki blasts in her palm. She rapid fired up at the falling statue soldiers, reducing them to a rain of pebbles.

Lee, Ino, and Fu flew in, joining Sakura and Karin in their assault on the army.

Lee took off the head of one soldier with a roundhouse kick, the taijutsu master tearing through the others with a lightning fast series of punches and kicks. A single punch from Lee to the stone drone's chest burst it into a shower of pebbles.

Fu dodged a sword thrust, taking out the legs of one soldier with a leg sweep before taking that same soldiers head off in another fluid kick. She leaped up high, landing in a great distance from her comrades,

The Seven-Tailed Jinchuriki quickly used her inner-voice, speaking to the monster she jailed,

_*"Chomei? Chomei wake up!"*_

She could hear the beatle within her groaning irritably,

_***"Ohhhh man, Fu! You woke me up when I was having this kickass dream about-"***_

The green-haired jinchuriki looked around at the enemies surrounding her,

*"Tell me later! Right now I need a small loan."* She told him as she quickly shifted through handsigns.

***"Oh, right, Lucky Seven Chomei's special delivery comn' right up!"***

'**Lightning Style: Spider-Web!' **Fu slapped her hand on the ground, smirking as a surge of electricity in the form of a spiderweb on the ground vaporized over fifty drones in a twenty meter radius.

Sakura grabbed the swords of two warriors aiming to stab her, the pinkette crushing the blades by their edge with her bare hands. With a punch and a kick, the warriors were destroyed.

Ino's hand glowed purple, the blonde swinging her hand to slice through the stone warriors sword, her palm continuing cleanly through the soldiers head, decapitating it from the jaw up.

Karin leaped over one stone drone, twisting to dodge the thrust of its blade at her, before she grabbed it by its head, and simply twisted it off, cracking the stone as easily as if it were a cork. The redhead landed, throwing the head in her hands at another target hard enough to destroy it completely.

Wiping the bit of dirt on her hand on her pants, Karin watched as the Ghost warriors surrounding her set to impale her, before she quickly shifted through hand signs. Her eyes quickly glanced around to make sure none of her friends were around.

The second she hit the last hand sign, a flurry of gold chains shot out of her body, impaling the warriors closest to her and coiling around them like snakes, squeezing the drones before they crushed into dust.

Ino huffed as she and Sakura stood back to back, fending off the enemy, "Why does Naruto always get the fun jobs?" she asked.

Sakura smiled, "Because he's him."

XXX

"We're almost there Lady Shion," Naruto said as the mountain temple quickly approached from the horizon, "You ready to finish this?"

Shion, more afraid of heights than she originally thought, kept her face buried in the blondes shoulder to keep from looking down. She peeked up from Naruto's shoulder to see the upcoming kingdom, saw how high up they were, and quickly put her face back into his shoulder, "Yeah sure whatever."

Naruto chuckled when he felt Shion's grip around his neck tighten, before picking up speed.

Naruto grunted in annoyance once he neared the entrance to the temple… the entire entranceway was filled with Ghost Warriors.

As if they could sense them, each one of the living statues glanced up at the flying ninja, "Ah crap." Naruto said as he quickly made a hand sign to form shadow clones, the bunshins instantly flying down to the ground. The second the clones hit the dirt, they dove into the fray to battle the blockade.

Naruto touched down right in front of the entranceway, gently setting Shion down.

Glancing back to the stone warriors behind him getting decimated by his clones rasengan's, he turned to Shion, "Head on in without me, will ya? I don't wanna risk any of these guys following us in there."

Shion looked into the dark cave with uncertainty, "I-I dunno Naruto,"

She flinched as Naruto pulled the ninjato from his holster, the jinchuriki slicing cleanly through a stone figure that walked too close, the top half of the foe falling to the ground.

The rogue ninja turned to her and smiled, "Just give me _literally _two minutes!" he held his left hand to his side, a spinning ball of mayhem appearing in the palm.

Shion swallowed and nodded as she turned and ran inside the cave, the sounds of Naruto raining hell on the soldiers outside echoing behind her.

Shion could feel the air around her grow increasingly warm the further into the tunnel she ran.

The light at the end opened to a massive room, a maze of fiery crevices in the floor making the room resemble a small pocket of hell.

She walked along the crevices, nearing the center of the room so she could do what she'd been destined to.

"So this is it," Shion said to herself, looking at the stone ground below her, "well, here goes nothing."

"My how you've grown."

Shion gasped at the gravelly voice that spoke to her, the young priestess turning to the source.

A ghastly looking man sitting in an out of place chair sat up; the man featuring fair skin, long black hair, tan-colored eyes, and a goatee. The black trench coat he wore only served to increase his intimidating demeanor

"You surely resemble Miroku." the man said to the young priestess.

"Wh-Who are you?" Shion asked, her heart racing as two stone figures walked towards her. She backed away from them.

A bone-chilling smile spread across the man's face, "My name... is Yomi." he sat back in his chair, Shion stepping away from her pursuers as they drew near, "Long ago, your mother stood in the way of my ambitions." Yomi said as he held a faraway look in his eyes, "Hm, surely, _you _remember that day. We had nearly resurrected Moryo as our leader, and took the Thousand Year Kingdom under our grasp." Yomi said, a hint of anger lacing his voice, "All because of her, your mother, our efforts were for nigh-"

A flash of silver shot past Shion and into Yomi's chest, the young woman gasping when she barely caught sight of it.

Yomi's eyes widened as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, he and Shion staring at the ninjato sticking out of his chest.

"Im… possible." he gasped in horror as he grabbed the handle of the blade.

"Not really." Naruto said with a shrug, "I just chucked my sword at you while you were running your mouth. Any moron can do that."

Yomi tried pulling out the sword sticking through his torso, before he slumped over, lifeless.

Shion turned around, Naruto casually strolling past her like he was taking a walk in the park, "Sheesh, that guy was annoying." he nonchalantly shoved the two stone soldiers into the molten pits below, before continuing up to Yomi's body, "And people think I have a big mouth." Naruto grinned as he took back his sword.

He turned to Shion, "So, you wanna do this whole sealing thing or what?"

The priestess blushed as she nodded, a smile on her face as she did her job.

XXX

The two walked outside, greeted by the rest of Naruto's team.

"We through here?" Sakura asked with her hand on her hip, her foot tapping impatiently.

"Moryo's sealed like a sardine in a can!" Naruto grinned, Shion nodding with a smile.

"Somehow this feels anti-climactic." Fu said, Shinhan and Lee nodding their agreement.

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I mean, were you guys expecting us to let the demon loose, just so I could have an epic one on one showdown with it?" he turned to the priestess, "You see that, Lady Shion, even when I do things the _right _way, they still don't appreciate me."

The priestess smiled at the Uzumaki, the woman holding her hands behind her back as she circled around him, "Well, _I _certainly appreciate you, Naruto. And, I actually wouldn't mind your company more."

"Oh, thanks," Naruto said with a bashful laugh, not expecting that response. He was just joking after all.

"After all, I will need an heir in the future." Shion said, "I think you could help me with that."

Ino, Sakura, and Karin gasped in shock while Lee and Tavi shuddered.

"ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT!" Fu yelled, her tan face turning red.

Naruto looked at the mint-haired girl quizzically, "But I don't see why I can't." Naruto said innocently, making Fu's eyes widen while the others face palmed.

"Naruto…" Fu breathed in disbelief, her eye twitching.

He turned to Shion, "Sure, I'd be happy to help you any way you'd like!"

Naruto cried out as Fu tackled him, the girl strangling him.

XXX

**(Yugakure)**

#17's head was leaned back, the Android letting out a deep sigh. His closed eyes closed tighter, a rough groan escaping his throat from the actions of the woman's head at his lap. He wouldn't see her head rhythmically bobbing up and down, lewd noises filling the room they both occupied.

The Android's eyes opened, the ebony haired man looking somberly at the woman, "Yumi," he called her name, making her stop mid-act, "stop."

Yumi's head lifted, the woman looking sadly at the Android, "D-Did I fail to please you, #17-san?"

The Android stared blankly at the young woman, noticing the genuine look of sadness and hurt behind her green eyes.

#17 huffed before cupping her chin, lifting her face so he could look her in the eye. He didn't have any feelings for this girl, only having taken an interest in her because of her looks, and he couldn't deny they were attention grabbing. What with her aforementioned eyes, dark-purple hair, and soft facial features. Her overall appearance could be comparable to that of a traditional geisha, though without the face full of make-up. Her purple hair was pinned up in a bun, though with two locks of hair framing her face.

Her black floral kimono hung very loosely around her figure, but given her position, she didn't need to worry about being modest.

#17 tilted his head as he eyed her, his features softening, though a tiny bit. He could care less about the feelings of humans, but he could tell this woman was head over heels for him.

He couldn't understand why, but he had a good idea of when it started.

**(One night, Two years ago)**

_#17 walked through his village, the Android having just used one of the village's many hot springs to relax. He was walking around in a white t-shirt and dark blue shorts, enjoying the cool breeze of the night against his steamed skin._

_The sound of shouting filled his ears, bringing the cyborgs attention to one of the houses to his far right. He could see a man and a woman inside, seemingly in a heated argument over something he couldn't possibly care about._

_What did grab the cyborg's attention was the slight slurring he heard in the man's words, a slurring that could only have come from alcohol._

_The Android couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something inside of him couldn't stand the sight of a drunk human. Perhaps it was something related to an experience before Gero wiped his own human memories?_

_The man then hit the woman, knocking her to the floor of her home. The act made #17 phase out._

_The Android appeared inside the couple's home, #17 standing against the wall, arms folded as he looked between the couple._

_The couple gasped in horror when they saw the cyborg, the husband stumbling back when #17 smirked at him. The Android loved the look of fear these people gave him. Even after more than 15 years it still didn't get old to see._

_"What's going on here? This looks like quite the party." #17 said._

_The husband regained his composure, figuring he could explain himself, given the cyborg's ruthless nature._

_"Oh, uh, my apologies for the, uh, disturbance, #17-san." He passed a glare to his wife, "My wife, she was getting rather bold with her tongue."_

_"Ah, I see." #17 nodded, looking down at the man's wife, and the red mark splashed on her cheek. He noticed the wife was considerably younger than the husband, "You're one of those… domineering husband types, eh." his head tilted, "Hm, that's a hell of a pimp hand you've got." the Android said, eyeing the man's hand as he approached._

_The older man looked at his hand, smiling in his drunken stupor._

_#17 grinned with much malice, "How 'bout I show you mine?"_

_Before the man could piece together the threat behind #17's words, the Android backhanded the man, sending him to the floor across from his wife._

_Spitting out teeth, the man found himself unable to fully close his mouth, his jaw broken._

_"W-why?" the man asked with warped words as #17 put his foot to his throat, Yumi watching the scene in awe._

_#17 slowly applied a bit of pressure, casually watching as the man struggled in vain to pull the Androids foot from his throat._

_"What did I say when me and my sister took over this place?" #17 asked rhetorically, "This place... is mine. Everything in this place... is mine. Everyone here... is mine." he applied more pressure, to the point the man's face turned purple, "And I don't like anyone damaging my things..."_

_*Crackle*_

_#17 watched as the man's hand went limp, all life fading from his eyes, "Unless I'm the one to do so."_

_#17 glanced over to the man's wife, expecting to see the woman angered that he just murdered her husband. Surprisingly, she seemed more awestruck than anything else._

_The cyborg smiled at her, "Clean that up for me, will ya."_

_And he left the house._

And now, here he was with her, holding her face.

Answering her earlier question, #17 said, "Nah, it's not what your doing. I just… don't want you to think you're _forced _to do this."

Yumi smiled, the woman leaning in closer #17, her hands on either side of his lap, "You've blessed me, #17-sama. You've freed me in more ways than you could ever imagine. For that, I'd do _anything _to please you."

#17 smirked, nodding behind, "Get on the bed."

XXX

#18, dressed in a blue kimono, re-entered the village, a posse of villagers behind her. They all carried bags filled with clothes, jewelry, and other luxurious items that each of them had taken a liking to.

As the blonde woman walked happily through the village, the villagers that took notice happily welcomed her home with bows and greetings.

"Hello Mistress #18!"

"Welcome home Lady-#18."

"Lady #18! How are you!"

The blonde android smiled and waved the people off. Once she reached the village square, she turned to her posse, "Take the rest of the day for yourselves boys!"

"Thank you my lady!" the villagers bowed and separated.

#18 spun around, hearing approaching footsteps.

"Mistress #18," An old man addressed as he approached the Android. He held a plate with colored balls stacked in a pyramid, "my wife made mochi, we thought you would want to be the first to taste them."

"Ooh!" #18's eyes widened as she took one of the rice cakes, popping it in her mouth, "Not bad. Better than the last batch I had."

"I'm pleased you enjoye them my lady." the villager said as he gave another bow, walking away from the Android.

#18 sat down on the steps to her and her brothers home, a massive borderline-mansion styled after more traditional japanese homes. The blonde looked around at the paradise her and her brother molded for themselves.

Going in, the twins didn't expect to be that good at the whole great ruler schtick they were playing up, but judging from the results, they were pretty damn good at it. If she knew it was this great, they would've tried it years ago.

As the village was now the property of the Androids, #17 nor #18 would allow anything to happen to what belonged to them.

Any bandits, marauders, or rogue ninja that passed through the village territory were killed by the androids hands… this, made the territories around the village safe.

The Androids, while amoral murderous sociopath's, still had some sense of standards. There were two major rules that they enforced, those rules being; no alcohol, and no abuse of _any _kind, unless the twins were the ones to dish it out... this rule on abuse extended to animals well, even hunting being a big no-no.

The Androids, still raiding smaller towns every so often, would bring back certain luxuries from the towns and small village's they destroyed. Those items being money, jewelry, art pieces, elegant foods, etc. The cyborgs even had a large fountain built into the village's square.

These luxuries were given to the villagers of Yugakure, a trait of the Androids rule that they loved.

#18 would even take the younger population with her on shopping sprees in other towns, allowing them to take whatever they'd wanted from the stores they fancied. After all, they did need to keep their turf well stocked and looking nice.

Outside of the aforementioned rules, the only rule the Androids had was that the villagers were to do whatever the twins said, and since the twins weren't actually the domineering types at heart, the villagers weren't forced to do much against their better natures.

Nobody dared challenge the twins on their authority… well, outside of one particular family, but the Androids shut that down quickly.

The villagers quickly forgot about said family.

With the quality of life for the villagers now arguably "better" than it ever has been… they couldn't argue that the Androids taking the crown was one of the better things to happen to Yugakure.

Stockholm Syndrome was a hell of a thing…

XXX

**(Sunagakure)**

Gaara stared up at the moon with his big brother at his side.

Kankuro smiled as he turned to his little brother, "Three years without an incident. Hm, I guess we lucked out, us being in a desert and all. Looks like Bulma Brief's was right when she said the Androids wouldn't have much interest in a village like ours.

The Kazekage blinked emotionlessly, "Yes. Unfortunately, not everyone is as blessed. I was told Getsugakure and Jomei Village were wiped out three months ago."

Gaara still had trouble expressing his emotions, but Kankuro could tell his little brother felt saddened by the misfortune of the other towns and villages attacked.

"People die, Gaara. You know this. You can't concern yourself with everyone, as cold as that sounds." Kankuro said, "Keep counting your blessings and do what you know is right, everything will be just fine."

Gaara stood, arms folded as he closed his eyes. It was as if he was accepting the misfortune that was soon to come, "The Akatsuki are coming, Kankuro. When do my blessings run out?"

XXX

"Honey's, we're home!" Naruto called out as he and Team Z landed back in Mount Myoboku.

The teen's walked up to the Capsule Home sitting quaintly in a patch of grassy land. Bulma, Tsunade, and Shizune exited the home to greet the heroes.

"Welcome back guys!" Shizune said, Tonton oinking happily, "Guess your good mood means everything was a success."

"Was it?" Tsunade asked, choosing to skip the greeting.

Sakura nodded, used to her sensei's nature, "Moryo's dead and Shion is safe."

"Yup," Ino added in, "Safe to fantasize about," she cleared her throat and made air quotes, "_making heir's_ with Naruto."

This earned the whiskered teenager a curious glance from the three older women, his face turning bright red as he broke out in a sweat. Sakura, Ino, and Karin looked at the blonde knucklehead mischievously.

"Psh, in her dreams." Fu said as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, "This one's mine."

Shinhan and Lee smiled and shook their heads.

The teen's turned to the sound of crushing leaves, Sakura and Naruto smiling when they saw Kakashi approaching.

"Congrats on your success, guys and gals." The jonin said, his lack of konoha headband allowing his thick silver hair to fall freely in front of his sharingan implanted eye. He still wore his lower face mask, but his outfit, much like the others, was different. He wore an outfit similar in style to what he wore when he was a genin under Minato Namikaze, only he kept the forearm guards on his right arm. The entire left sleeve of his shirt was torn away for his prosthetic, the arm wrapped up in cloth to protect it from outside moisture.

"Mission was a cakewalk!" Karin said as she pounded her chest.

"As expected." Lee said with a thumbs up.

"Good thing you guys handled him," Tsunade said, "Moryo's bad enough on his own, hate to imagine what woulda happened if he got ahold of one of the Androids, like he was planning."

"Won't have to worry about that now," Karin said, "he is _very _taken care of."

Naruto glanced to his right, seeing the mohawked behemoth socializing with the local frog life.

"Yo #16!" he called out, the Android glancing at him and giving a salute and smile, one Naruto returned.

Bulma smiled at the teens, "No point in you all standing out here all night. Let's go in."

XXX

The group sat around the living room, Fu and Karin playing two handheld game consoles they'd taken a real liking to over the years.

Naruto and Lee got up from the couch, the two young men rushing out to spar on a bet that Lee made.

Sakura read a human anatomy book at the bar next to Ino, the Yamanaka glancing to the window that peered outside as Bulma and Shizune worked around the kitchen to meal prep.

"Uh, Bulma," Ino caught the blue haired woman's attention, "just letting you know, if he's not back in the next two weeks, I'm gonna smack the hell out of him when he _does _get back."

"You have my permission." Bulma said with a smile, Shizune lightly laughing at the exchange.

Ino smiled, the girl looking back out the window of the Capsule Home. 'Come on Trunks, when you said you'd be gone for three years, I didn't think you meant three years exactly... or at _least_.' She frowned and rested her chin against her forearms, 'Please come back to me…'

XXX

Shion stood outside of her home, peering into the forests beyond.

"Lady Shion," Taruho approached his priestess, taking notice of the troubled energy she was giving off, "you're worried. What is it?"

Shion slowly blinked before answering, "Something is out there, Taruho. Something very bad."

Taruho himself now looked worried, "I take it it's not the Androids? Or the Akatsuki?"

His eyes widened as Shion shook her head, "It's not them." She closed her eyes, "It's… _they_, are something worse."

"They?" Taruho asked, his heartbeat hastening, "Surely they couldn't be anything worse than what we're already dealing with?"

"...But they are." Shion said, her voice serious, "These things I've seen, are worse than the Androids could ever be."

"My God…" Taruho breathed.

"These… things, are out there somewhere." she said, her voice emotionless, "One of them… is very thirsty… and the other… is very, _very _hungry."

XXX

A/N: And that's it for chapter 1, ladies and gentleman! The main purpose of this first chap was to give a glimpse into how things have changed over the years.

So, the rundown!

Most of the Konoha 13 (the ones still in the Village anyway) are Jonin now, unsurprisingly.

The events of the first Naruto movie went by VERY fast, as expected given the massive increase in strength Naruto and the others received.

Trunks, still hasn't come home. But, you know he's coming soon, haha!

The villagers of Yugakure have developed a healthy dose of Stockholm Syndrome.

Although the Akatsuki were only shown briefly in the chapter, them making their move on Gaara will serve the main focus of the first arc of the story.

Until next time!


	3. Raccoon Hunting

A/N: I know I tend to "jump around" perspectives a lot. It's just that there's a lot to cover after the three year time skip. My apologies in advance if things seem "unfocused" in that regard.

XXX

A strange pair walked across the desert, a light wave of sand sweeping across the land from the warm winds. Of the two, one was tall and lanky, walking as a normal man should with normal tracks left behind from his feet. The other, heavyset and with an extreme hunch, his feet cutting a line through the sand as if there was a heavy weight hanging from his torso.

"Well well, look at this," Deidara said as Sunagakure appeared in the horizon; the village sitting within' a canyon-esqe fissure within the Earth. The two men looked over it from atop a hill they ascended, "feeling nostalgic yet, Sasori?" he asked his partner.

"Piss off, Deidara," Sasori growled, voice unimaginably hoarse and gravelly, as if the man had been gargling rocks every morning his whole life. "This dustbowl means nothing to me. The sooner we snatch Shukaku, the better."

"Ever the man in a hurry." Deidara said with a chuckle, the two traversed down the hill, "So be it."

Little did the two know, a bird circled the skies miles high above them.

Through a pair of binoculars, a pale skinned young man looked down on the two Akatsuki members, and the trails they left behind in the sand below. He estimated that the pair was merely 15 miles away from the Sand village.

Sai lowered the binoculars, the paint-formed falcon he rode atop doing a complete 180, before immediately flying back to the Leaf. Danzo will want to know the Akatsuki have begun to move.

The bird gave a very lifelike caw that echoed throughout the desert, one the men on ground ignored.

The two missing nin kept advancing towards Sunagakure, the two men quickly coming up on a rather strange sight.

A smooth wall of sand, almost 50 meters high in length encircled the village. The top of the wall curved slightly inward, almost as if it would enclose over the village like a dome.

"Heh, a wall of sand." Deidara said as he got up close to the wall. The blonde haired man held his hand just inches from the wall, the tongue in his palm lightly grazing the surface, "They built this for the Artificial Humans, didn't they? Tsk, pathetic." he shook his head, "All this for a couple of overrated troublemaking-"

"No." Sasori said, interrupting Deidara, "Not the Artificial Humans," the blonde looked back at him, "for _us_."

Deidara grinned, "All this preparation then… for _me_. Now _**that**_ makes me feel good." he looked up at the wall's smooth surface, "Hm, looks like we won't be climbing this surface. We'll wait for the fall of the sun and the soaring of the moon." he looked up at the sky, "What do you say, Sasori?"

"..."

"And so we'll wait."

The sounds of shifting grains not far from them brought the two men's attention to their left.

A Suna ninja stood before the two rogue nin. Strangely, the nin showed the two nuke-nin no form of aggression... before he took a knee in front of them.

"Whenever you are ready, the passage into the village has been made clear for you, Lord Sasori." the Sand-nin mole said to his brainwashing master.

"The status of security?" Sasori asked.

"Code yellow." the nin said, "They are aware that there _will _be intruders. It's only a matter of _when _they'll encounter them."

"The amount of guards active?"

"An average of 40, all spread at vantage points throughout the village." the mole said, "The ones closest to the entrance are your biggest problem.

"Red, yellow, green; 40, 50, 100. Security status makes no difference." Deidara said, hand reaching into a support pouch at his waist. He held up a little clay bird, "My art will do its work all the same."

XXX

**(Konohagakure: One Year Ago...)**

Within a secure room near the edge of the Leaf Village, a toddler sat alone in a room, happily bouncing a blue ball in its chubby hands. This toddler was a girl, barely a year old, having picked up traits from her parents. Her father's natural blue eyes and exotic hair, though hers was of a more purple shade instead of a lavender, the darker hair tone she gained from her mom.

Silence filled the room, something that slowly ate away at the child with each passing hour...

The toddler dropped the rubber ball, letting it bounce and roll away from her. Her blue eyes looked around the room at her other toys. Standing up, she walked over to one of her animals, a stuffed monkey that was nearly the same size as her. She smiled at the monkey, always amused by the goofy expression stitched into its face. The little girl squeezed the stuffed animal, a light squeak coming from it that resembled the sounds its real life equivalent would make.

She looked at the tail that hung from its backside, a similar tail hanging from hers as well...

Hugging the stuffed animal tight, she felt a sense of companionship with it... whatever creature it was apparently being similar to her.

Her eyes looked towards the window of the room, noticing the outside had darkened.

Holding the stuffed monkey, she sauntered on over to the small window built high up into the room's wall, her purple tail dragging along the floor behind her. The window was too high for her to view on her feet, so with a skill that came almost naturally, she floated up almost 9 feet off the floor, the toddler now able to look out the window into the outside.

She hadn't yet gotten the opportunity to see the outside world in person. Only able to see it from whatever shield of glass was in front of her eyes. She'd been able to see people and other creatures on the other side of the glass, casually walking around without a care in the world.

Obviously, she'd never understand why she couldn't be out there with them.

The toddler frowned sadly, her eyes slowly going from the village below, to the skies above.

She saw millions of white crystals hanging in the air. The tiny ones were pretty... but none of them as pretty as the giant one that looked like a dinner plate-

Her blue eyes widened… her body going completely still as her small arms dropped to her sides…

The stuffed monkey dropped to the floor.

**Thu-Thump… Thu-Thump… Thu-Thump**

Her eyes turned pale as her simple mind went completely blank.

Her heart rate increased, the organ pounding in her small chest like a drum. Her insides grew warm, heating up until they burned in response to the hastening pumping of blood. The young girl's body began to convulse with her heartbeat as if something was trying to burst out of her. Her hair flared up, defying gravity as her eyes became completely clouded in white, body bulging and expanding. Her small petite form began to take on a very muscular form as her clothing was torn from her growing size. Her eyes becoming bloodthirsty red as her teeth sharpened into fangs, and hair began to sprout all over her like a coat of fur.

One of the building researchers, an older man in charge of caring for the child walked into the room, a plate full of soft food in his hands. That quickly changed when he looked inside.

The man dropped the plate on his floor when he got an eyeful of an ever growing monster taking shape in the room, its shadow casting quickly over the mortified scientist.

Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru sat within' the Konoha jonin lounge, the three geniuses sitting with nothing to say to the other. Another Jonin sat in a chair at the edge of the room, a gray parka hood covering his head. His sharp fingernails scratched the Inuzuka fang symbols into the wood coffee table next to him. His predatory eyes showed the lasting effects of the soldier pill he popped on an earlier mission.

A roar suddenly tore through the air, bringing every Konoha nin in the lounge to the balcony outside.

To their horror, they saw a tailed… _something _standing at the edge of the village.

"Wh… What the _hell is that!?"_ Shikamaru said, the Nara's eyes widening in just as much shock as the others.

The great ape let out a roar from hell, the screams and cries of terror from the Leaf populace echoing through the night as everyone fled from the monster. The Ape swung its fists, knocking over and crushing nearby buildings.

Leaf shinobi from all over the village leaped across rooftops and flew through the skies in order to reach the beast, some quickly preparing jutsu while others prepared summons.

"**Fire-Style: Fireball Jutsu!" **Several shinobi shouted as they spewed fireball's from their gullets. The balls of fire hit the ape, making it stumble back as it growled in anger, its fur singed and smoking with embers.

It swung its tail, knocking away several ninjas along with their bird summons on impact.

Several older jonin quickly got flashbacks of another monster making an appearance over 15 years ago.

A massive furry hand picked up the top half of a destroyed apartment building, before chucking it at a large group of shinobi bounding across buildings to reach the monster.

The thrown debris smashed into the ninja, several of them getting crushed under the apartment building while others managed to fly off to the side to dodge.

A few genin shinobi who foolishly tried to get in close were crushed under the beast's massive foot.

Another several ninja were swatted away by the beast's backhand, sending them into buildings or skidding along the streets. The large primate unleashed another roar that echoed like thunder as it tore down more village structures.

Danzo stood from the rooftop of the Hokage building, the screams and sounds of chaos waking him from his slumber. When he got a good look at what was bringing his village into chaos; a massive ape that would fit perfectly within' any Kaiju movie's universe; Danzo was put into a sort of trance. Perfectly balanced feelings of awe and fear overcoming the Elder.

"In… Incredible…" the elder breathed as the beast roared. Danzo looked down into the streets, noticing the shinobi guiding the civilians into several marked buildings; the buildings leading down into the underground shelters.

He made a simple transformation jutsu, before slipping in with the crowd.

One jonin stood upon a pile of rubble, hand quickly shifting through handsigns before he held his right hand out towards the ape. A stream of wood branches slithered from his arm like snakes, wrapping and coiling around the apes ankles.

The jonin stumbled forward as the ape thrashed around, but he just barely managed to hold his ground.

The ape beat its chest before letting out another roar, this one just as monstrous, only this time, a wave of black smoke bathed out into the village, flooding the streets and buildings.

"Dammit! I can't see anything!" Shikamaru grunted as he put his hand in front of his nose and mouth. The entire area was completely blacked out with smog, the other shinobi in the area stopping in place as they broke out into a fit of coughs.

Neji covered his nose and mouth, the Hyuga prodigy as well as the other nearby shinobi hearing the sounds of the monsters rampage, but being unable to see it. Neji activated his byakugan, the prodigy being able to see the coils of all shinobi in the area. He saw the massive coils of the behemoths, a chill rolling down Neji's spine when he saw the power it put out.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan, the dojutsu allowing him enough sight to see through the smoke, somewhat. He obviously couldn't see clearly, but he could make out major shapes.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder, Neji's.

The Hyuga pointed to the beast's backside, the prodigy noticing a large clump of coils where the tail met the rear, and then spreading out like tree roots throughout the beasts body. The tail shined brighter than the other coils, almost like a giant beaming glow stick. That was a big enough hint for Neji, "The tail, Sasuke. Go for the tail!"

Sasuke charged up a chidori, the Uchiha survivor flying off the ground to tear off the ape's tail.

He landed on the ground, the beast's massive appendage flopping down behind him.

Sasuke looked back, the ape quickly shrinking down as the smoke slowly wafted away.

The shinobi in the area closed in as the beast continued to shrink and shrink. They prepared to make a final killing strike, until the ape reverted into a confused, frightened… and nude toddler.

"What the hell…" Sasuke thought, not expecting this in the slightest.

One of the other jonin leaped down from a rooftop, willing to end this threat, child or not.

Before they could, a trio of ROOT nin appeared in front of the little one.

"You will stand down!" said one of them, the other in the trio grabbing the toddler and shushining out, leaving people baffled at what had occurred.

The incident was surprisingly quick. There were several shinobi deaths, but thankfully, no civilians. Injuries, were in the dozens while the village had suffered quite a few large damages. Stores, roads and buildings were wrecked during the attack as a few street blocks would need massive repairs.

Shinobi and civilians alike had quickly gone to demand answers, something Danzo already had in case things turned out of hand. Though he had to admit, he wasn't expecting a foul up to occur the way it did. Nevertheless, he'd been adept at covering his own ass.

Experimental ninjutsu gone wrong. Tests of methods to combat the Androids having gone out of hand. Artificial jinchuriki being the source of it all.

With the knowledge that there were other bijuu, specifically in the form of an ape roaming their world, it wasn't _too _far off. And, with the populace so desperate for a solution to the Android threat, they were willing to buy it.

The child had been returned to Danzo and taken to a different complex given that the previous one had been completely totalled. He stood behind a one way window looking at the now sleeping and freshly clothed child. There were over a dozen ROOT nin surrounding her in case she transformed again.

Behind him was the mother of said child glaring at the back of his head with a look of contempt given what had just occurred. Needless to say she was not happy to hear how her child for whatever reason, had turned into a giant ape monster and gone on a rampage. The village which had only recently been fixed after the war with Suna and Oto two years prior was now once again damaged. Not only that but a few of their ROOT personnel had been killed when the complex was wrecked and buried under rubble.

"What... the hell... just happened?" Hattori asked as she eyed the now sleeping toddler.

"...I'm not sure." the Elder said.

"What else is new these days." the young woman said earning a look from Danzo for her jab. Nevertheless she continued her complaints. "You produced a bloodline from one of the toughest people alive without doing proper research first?" the young woman asked.

"I don't recall Trunks Briefs ever having a tail." the Elder said, "Or exhibiting a transformation besides super saiyan. These are factors that no amount of research could have calculated."

"Well maybe if you didn't toss him out, you would've been able to learn more about his heritage and prevent _this _disaster from happening." Hattori said through gritted teeth.

Danzo's lone eye narrowed as his displeasure became more noticeable at her attitude. "Don't be idiotic. He wouldn't divulge that information on his own accord. Also, need I remind you his banishment has so far proven successful in keeping the Leaf out of the Androids gaze."

"Whatever..." Hattori remarked, shaking her head before getting back on subject. "So you treated an ultra powerful kid from another dimension like breeding stock..." The woman said, "Without knowing the full extent of his bloodline and the repercussions that would come from lack of insight?"

Danzo's lip twitched, "All this means is that there was more to Trunks than I originally thought. While this child is young, we can properly study it and learn the full extent of its abilities."

"And if she turns into a monster _again_?"

"The tail." Danzo said, "When the beast lost its tail, the child reverted back to normal. As we study it, we can certainly find a way to weaponize the beast itself. This animalistic transformation, as well as the super saiyan transformation will serve as great weapons for the village."

"For the village, for the village, for the village." Hattori said with a roll of her eyes, "I'm starting to think you use the village as a crutch for some of the imbelic things you do."

"Sometimes misfortunes are wrought in pursuit of the greater good. All that has been done has been for the Leaf's benefit. _I _have nothing to gain."

"So far, the things you've done have only gotten people killed and made the village lose most of it's best personnel." Shimura held her hand to the toddler, "And now, you have a kid that's practically a monster you know little about, and a lot of explaining you're gonna have to do to the people of the village and the Fire Daimyo."

"I can handle the fallout. You can criticise as much as you please child, but until you're put in a position of power, you simply won't understand. Until you're given power, you are simply to sit and do as asked." Danzo said.

Hattori's eyes narrowed, "All I _ever_ do is what you ask…"

"And would that be a problem?" Danzo asked, "When your parents passed, I swore to them and myself that you would be taken care of, and that I would make you a fine kunoichi in their honor. If you feel as though I'm ineffective, do tell. You won't have to endure these... trials, any longer."

"...no." Hattori said as her eyes lowered.

**(Konohagakure: Today)**

"Absolutely incredible!" A konoha scientist said as he studied a sample of the child's blood. "I've never seen _anything _like this!"

"Uh-huh." Hattori said boredly, the young woman leaning against a wall in the research room, her arms folded over her chest.

The scientist observed the particles of blood between the child's, and a normal human being.

"Having kept her samples on ice, it seems as if her blood cell's show a high resilience to elemental trauma,"

"Cool."

"An ability to adapt to different environments,"

"Interesting."

"And a compatibility with _any _blood cells! Regardless of type!"

"Fascinating." she said with a roll of her eyes.

"I mean, just look at this!" the scientist said excitedly as he took the two petri dishes with blood to a Bunsen burner. "The way a human being's blood reacts to fire and high temperatures, it boils and coagulates within seconds." he put the quarter saiyans blood up to the fire, "Hers… doesn't boil, doesn't coagulate."

"I know you can't tell, but I'm totally _not _falling asleep over here."

The scientist sighed, before writing down a few more notes, "Just give this to Danz- I mean, Lord Fifth for me, he'll want to see this." the scientist said as Hattori snatched the paper from him.

"Wait, before you go." the scientist said as he approached the child, thick syringe needle in hand. The toddler shuddered violently when she saw the syringe, a sight that made Hattori look away. To be fair, it wasn't the researcher's fault he had to use such a large instrument to extract blood; all other needles would simply break off against the child's skin.

The scientist reached for the child's arm, only for the toddler to dissipate and reform away from him. He grabbed her arm, only for her to dematerialize again, reforming on the other side of the room.

The child seemed exhausted, her skin now pale and her small stature wheezing.

The researcher grew tired of this routine. She pulled this every time he went in for samples. All he could do was keep at her until she eventually tuckered out.

And she did, after a few short minutes.

Shimura looked back at the scientist, syringe filled with crimson while the toddler rubbed her sore and bleeding arm with tears in her eyes.

She quickly looked away from her, "You already sucked a pint out of her between the last few days. How much do you even really need?"

"Unfortunately for her, with all the tests I need to run, I'll need a lot more." he said. He attempted to bandage the little girls arm, but the second he made contact with the sensitive flesh, the toddler angrily swatted him away, sending the scientist tumbling across the office floor. It was another thing that was constant with her. She'd always swat the doctor after he did something she didn't like, and showed that despite her age and small size... she was quite strong.

Hattori shook her head before walking up to the door. She turned to the toddler, "Come." she ordered.

And the child followed.

As the jonin walked down the hallway, she felt a pair of small legs land over her shoulders.

Hattori's eye twitched, the sound of Danzo's voice suddenly ringing in her ears.

'_It is a weapon, Hattori. You are not to coddle it, have play time, kiss boo boos, or throw birthday parties.'_

"Down." She ordered.

And as such, the child flew off of her shoulders and landed on the floor, looking to her sadly before looking at the ground while she walked.

"Yeah," the young woman said as she looked away, "Welcome to my world kid."

Hattori entered the Hokage building, she and the toddler walking straight to the Hokage's office.

Opening the door, she saw the Fire Shadow at work at his desk, the bandaged Kage not even looking at the two girls as they walked in.

"Any new information?" Danzo asked, the Elder's eye glued to his paper.

The young woman walked up and tossed the paper to the desk, "Try reading. It's all you do these days."

Danzo skimmed over the report; "Still no update on the Kekkei genkai."

Hattori shrugged, "It is what it is."

Danzo rubbed the scar on his chin, the elder thinking back as he pondered over past information, "The research team claimed they've seen a spike in her vitals when she's under intense stress..."

"And?" the woman asked. She knew where he was going with this, she just didn't want to hear him say it.

"Use your head, _child_." Danzo said, "The Super Saiyan transformation _must _be triggered by intense emotional or physical stress."

"Okay." Hattori shrugged, "And just how much stress do you think a two year old can endure? It's bad enough she gets stuck with pencil-thick needles six times a week."

"Children are naturally resilient." Danzo said as he leaned back in his chair, "If she is to be an efficient weapon, she'll certainly need to be... more-so than the average."

She looked away, "Can we leave now?"

"Go." the Elder dismissed.

The toddler followed the woman into the hallway. She looked back at the Hokage office door, before looking up at her mom, face a mixture of sadness and anger.

Hattori looked to the toddler and looked away, "Don't look at me like that. I _seriously _doubt you hate him more than I do." Her eyes narrowed, "_You're _lucky enough not to be raised by him..."

The anger in the toddlers eyes melted away into sadness, before she looked down at the floor.

Once the two walked past an air vent built into a wall, Hattori looked to the child, "Wanna take the shortcut?"

A nod from the toddler, and the two dissipated into smoke that seeped into the vent, quickly traveling through it until the two seeped into an apartment room.

The two reformed in the apartment's living room.

"Home sweet home." the woman said as she walked over to the kitchen. She looked back at the child who followed, "Hungry?"

The kid nodded eagerly as a small smile formed on her face.

"I figured as such." the woman said with a roll of her eyes. She opened the pantry, pulling out various cans of food, "I'm gonna have to go grocery shopping soon… again." she gave the toddler a pointed look, "I have _no idea_ why you eat so much…"

The child blushed and shrugged bashfully.

XXX

Danzo read over the reports, the elder's eyes repeatedly skimming over what he was given;

UNIVERSALLY COMPATIBLE BLOOD

AMPLIFIED CHARACTERISTICS

ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTABILITY

He rubbed the scar on his chin as he pondered on one thought... how would a transfusion of saiyan blood affect his shinobi?

He was pulled from his thoughts as the door to his room opened.

"Lord Hokage," Sai bowed, "I have an update on Akatsuki."

"Report." Danzo ordered.

"Two of them are making their move on the Sand Village." The pale ROOT nin said, "If I were to guess, they would be pursuing the Kazekage."

Danzo nodded, "Bring me Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, Neji Hyuga, Choji Akimichi, and the kunoichi known as Tenten immediately."

No less than 10 minutes later, and the Leaf shinobi stood before Danzo, ready to receive their orders.

"There have been sightings of Akatsuki in and around Sunagakure. You _know_ their goal." Danzo said.

"Kidnap the tailed beasts." Choji nodded.

"Correct. You are _not _to allow them to kidnap the Kazekage under any circumstance." the Fire Shadow said, "When you come across the Akatsuki, kill them."

"Sounds direct enough." Shikamaru shrugged, "We'll take care of it." He and the rest of his team moved to leave the office.

"Sasuke, Shikamaru," Danzo stopped the two teens, "I need a word with you two."

The two jonin turned to the Kage as the other three members of their team left the room.

"I have a special assignment for the two of you." Danzo said, the man leaning forward in his chair, "The Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara… kill him."

This didn't faze the two young men. Still, Sasuke asked, "Any particular reason why?"

Danzo leaned back in his chair, "To kill a Tailed Beast host, will kill the beast inside of them. To kill the beast, will kill the Akatsuki's plans at the root." Danzo's single visible eye narrowed, "Make no mistake, the Leaf and Sand are _not _allies. We have no _moral _obligation _not _to assassinate their active Kage."

"And there are no concerns about sparking a war?" Shikamaru asked.

"This task is meant to be discreet." Danzo said, "You would assassinate Gaara during the havoc, and simply stage events as him being a casualty of battle." the bandaged man's exposed eye narrowed, "If the worse comes to worst… well, the Sand have no allies to assist them. The Leaf does, not that we would need it." Danzo looked to Sasuke, "You have faced Gaara in the past. If for whatever reason you come to blows with him, I expect you to be the one to put him down."

Both jonin nodded, "We'll take care of it." Shikamaru said.

The two left the room.

XXX

The moon hung over the Sand Village.

Gaara stood motionless atop his tower with his brother and sister at his side. The warm night wind sweeping through the area whipped the redhead's robes.

Temari, as expected, had grown into a young woman over the years… though her general appearance stayed the same. Her attire consisted of a short-sleeved black kimono that reached down to her knees and hugged her new figure quite well. Her height still made her the tallest out of the three siblings.

Kankuro, like his sister, had grown up. Like his sister, his general appearance was the same, the only difference being in his face paint.

Temari and Kankuro made up Gaara's personal bodyguards, as well as members of his council. Though Gaara had managed to earn the respect and even love of most of his village populace, feelings he'd began to return, he still couldn't trust a lot of them on a deeper level, especially when his wellbeing was on the line.

His siblings could understand this.

Gaara's ringed eyes snapped open, a gesture that put Kankuro and Temari on edge.

"You sense something?" Kankuro asked, the puppetmaster reaching behind for a bandaged rig slung around his back.

"Yes." Gaara said, green eyes emotionless, "A pair just breached the perimeter."

"One pair's worse than the other." Temari said as she grabbed her fan, "Is this a pair we run from, or fight?"

Gaara's eyes closed, as if the redhead were thinking things over in his head. He remembered when he received warning about the Akatsuki three years ago.

X

_Gaara sat at his desk, his big brother and sister helping him manage the Sand's economy much the same way they would help him with math homework_

_A knock at his door brought the sand siblings attention to the front of the office, a suna nin opening the door._

"_Lord Kazekage, there's a group that wishes to speak with you. They say it's important."_

_A nod from Gaara prompted the nin to step into the room, a strange group of people following him inside. One of those people, the siblings immediately recognized._

'_This is… peculiar.' Gaara thought as he eyed Rock Lee, his siblings and him almost completely disregarding the other visitors._

_Lee smiled nervously, the bushy browed teen never having been in a more awkward and uncomfortable situation._

_Bulma raised an eyebrow and smirked as she looked back and forth between Lee and the sand siblings, "Oooh, I'm sensing a bit of history here."_

"_There's a bit." Temari said, deciding to do the speaking for her brother, "What's a Leaf nin doing in the Sand village?"_

"_Last I checked, you guys still had a beef with us." Kankuro said._

_Kakashi shrugged, "And you'd be right, we would… __**if**__ we were still Leaf nin."_

"_Rogue nin, then." Gaara said, speaking for the first time, "I take it you've sought out the enemy of your former village for refuge."_

"_Not even." Bulma said with a smile, "We're just here to deliver some info you __**might **__wanna hear."_

"_...I'm listening." Gaara said._

_Bulma cleared her throat, "So, my name... is Bulma Briefs." the three sand nin's eyes widened, "That reaction tells me you know my son."_

"_Boy, do we know him." Temari said with a roll of her eyes._

"_Bastard owes me new puppet." Kankuro muttered._

"_Tell me," Bulma continued, "what do you know about the Androids?"_

"_Androids?" Gaara asked._

"_You must mean the invaders? Right?" Temari asked._

"_You're telling us they're Androids?!" Kankuro asked in disbelief_

"_Technically they're cyborgs," Bulma corrected with a small laugh, "but they go by Androids, robots, artificial humans, whatever, you pick one."_

"_How do _you _know so much about them?" Gaara asked._

"_Well," Bulma started, "in case you didn't know, me and my son… and them," she nodded to Shinhan and #16._

"_Sup." Tavi nodded._

"_Aren't from here." Bulma finished, "Another world, actually; whether you believe it or not."_

"_...Okay." Gaara said._

"_What?" Kankuro turned to his little brother, "You really believe that?"_

"_Given the world we already live in, I can buy it." Temari said, "I doubt someone would make that up and get so many other people on board with it."_

"_I guess the Androids came from this world you're from, as well?" Gaara asked._

"_Bingo." Bulma said._

"_What can you tell us about them?" Temari asked._

"_Appearance wise, they-"_

"_We have pictures of them, so you can skip that." Temari said._

"_Oh, great!" Bulma said, knowing this would speed things up some, "What they're capable of; well, they have unlimited energy which means they'll never tire out. Ever, no matter how long or how many enemies they fight, which eliminates the idea of using numbers to our advantage. They don't need food, water or sleep to live which means there's no effective way to weaken them. Lastly, they're tough enough to kill my son, pretty easily at that. If you know my son, you probably know how tough he already is which only speaks volumes about his enemies power."_

_That made the teens break out in a sweat._

_Trunks was not only able to smack Gaara around pretty easily, but was able to go up against the 1 tailed beast itself, and actually would have won! If only the one tail wasn't completely made of sand and could keep reforming itself at will._

"_Know of any ways to fight back?" Gaara said._

"_As of right now, I have no answer." Bulma said straight up, "If the Androids come to your village, you evacuate. Don't bother fighting, it's hopeless."_

"_That's not an option." Gaara said. If the people of his village evacuated, they'd be forced to walk the deserts for days. They'd simply die due to the elements if the Androids didn't kill them._

_Bulma shrugged, "As I've said, fighting them is a hopeless option that would only lead you to your deaths. Still, it's your call to make." She held up a finger, "But, don't worry. In around three years time this will all be over. My son's off training with someone to stop the Androids as we speak."_

"_So we just have to hope these Androids or whatever won't just trash our village for shits and giggles over the next three years?!" Temari said in disbelief._

"_Uh, yeah." Bulma said._

"_Pretty much." Tavi shrugged while #16 nodded._

"_That sounds about right." Kakashi said as he too nodded._

_Fu and Lee looked to one another, shrugging as they too agreed that that was their reality._

"_But there is a brightside!" Bulma added, "You guys being out in the desert may just work in your favor. The Androids, being thrillseekers and all, may not feel a need to come flying on out here. No offense to your home, but your village doesn't seem like much of an amusement park or tourist attraction if you catch my drift."_

_Gaara couldn't argue that, "Understandable."_

"_But know this," Kakashi added in, "The Androids aren't the only issue you'll be facing. The Akatsuki will be pursuing the One-Tail. When exactly they'll be making their move will be anyone's bet."_

_The sibling trio's eyes narrowed. That meant village security would have to be at high alert… all of the time._

"_Generally, its believed the Akatsuki tend to wait until their targets are outside of village walls… so know if they breach your village's walls, it's because they _know _they can get what they want." Hatake said, voice dangerous, "Chances are, if the Akatsuki breach the village's walls, they _will _take the one tail… that's just an unfortunate reality."_

_The siblings didn't like it, but they solemnly nodded._

"_Thank you, for the information." Gaara said._

"_No problem Mr. Kazekage-sir-guy!" Bulma said with a smile._

_A tiny smile went across Gaara's face, "My name, is Gaara."_

_At this, Fu's orange eyes widened, "Wait, __**you're**_ _Gaara?!" the girl rushed up to the Kazekage's desk, surprising the Sand teen's, "The name's Fu, nice to meet ya! Naruto told me a lot about you, Gaara."_

_The redhead blushed and looked down, remembering the last time he and Naruto met, it was after the blonde spared him from Trunks wrath, "O-Only good things… I hope."_

_Fu smiled, "He told me you were a little kooky, had some screws loose... but you seem alright by me."_

_A small smile crossed Gaara's face._

"_I promise, when shit ever hits the fan, me and Naruto WILL help you." Fu said, the others turning to leave the office, "We won't let anything happen to you."_

_Now Gaara was curious, "Why would _you _make a promise like that?"_

"_Because, me and Naruto look after our own." Fu said, the girl backing away from the Kazekage's desk, "Birds of a feather and all that." she headed towards the door with her friends as Gaara's browless eyes widened._

"_Yeah," Fu said as she looked back, pointing a finger at herself, "__**I'm **__the Seven"_

X

Gaara's eyes snapped open. Whatever happened now, had to happen. Do or die. "Kankuro," Gaara turned to his brother, "intercept one of them at the village entrance. Temari, stand by me. Please."

"Of course, Gaara." Temari said as she wielded her fan.

"Catch you both on the other side." Kankuro said as he leaped off the rooftop.

XXX

Sasori walked casually through the empty streets of the village. Nobody was around to witness him, shinobi _or _civilian.

That was nice… for now.

He knew that inevitably, he'd be killing some of this village's forces. He'd give it a few minutes before one crossed his path.

"Where's your partner?" Kankuro asked.

Or a few seconds...

Sasori's eyes slowly glanced up at the building the puppeteer peered down at him from.

"... Around." Sasori responded.

Kankuro glared dangerously at the hunchback, the sand nin leaping down from the building to stand in front of his enemy.

"You know who it is you're after, right?" Kankuro asked the rogue nin. Sasori didn't answer, though that didn't stop Kankuro from continuing, "You're not just after a beast holder… you're not just after my Kage." Kankuro's hand gripped the bandaged rig tighter, "You're after _my _baby brother. So you have no idea how personal you made this!"

Kankuro slapped down three summoning papers, three eruptions of smoke bursting from said papers.

Before the sand sibling stood three puppets; the Black Ant, Salamander; a puppet that looked oddly like its namesake; and a new puppet Kankuro'd constructed over the years, a puppet that looked like a large dog with two fangs and a horn protruding from its head. It was meant to replace the Crow he'd lost 3 years ago during the Sand/Sound invasion of Konoha. He named this one, the Jackal.

"Ready for a puppet show?" Kankuro challenged.

Sasori's head tilted, "Big brother shows up on the playground to save his little brother from the bully," Kankuro flinched as a long metallic and bladed appendage snaked out from Sasori's rear, the tip hanging right over Sasori's head.

The nin now looked akin to a scorpion.

"How cliche." Sasori drawled.

XXX

Deidara soared over the village atop a bird formed of clay.

His single exposed eye wore a piece that functioned as a sort of telescope. His gaze skimmed over the village; from streets, to windows, to rooftops.

"Come on… show yourself." Deidara said to himself. He grinned as he caught a glimpse of red hair atop one of the rooftops. "Well well, there you are."

Gaara stood from his rooftop, staring directly at his pursuer.

Deidara instantly noticed something was off. Gaara stood still and alone, his eyes practically locked on to the Akatsuki that soared over him. Deidara felt as if the Kazekage was expecting him…

Deidara removed the eye piece from his head, the blonde man wondering what the crimson-haired man below was planning.

The nuke-nin's hand inched inside of a bag filled with clay, his gaze locked onto Gaara's.

The sweeping sound of wind behind him made Deidara's gaze quickly snap to his right. To his surprise, Temari flew directly at him, the kunoichi riding atop her signature fan.

The young woman grabbed her fan by the handle, leaping from it as she swung a deadly gust of wind at the man who dared threaten her brother.

XXX

Deep within' the ruins of Orochimaru's old hideout, seven figures outfitted in black cloaks stood in a circle. Each one of their cloaks contained a purple musical symbol etched into the fabric of the back.

These figures; Kabuto Yakushi, spy and right hand of Orochimaru; Tayuya and Sakon, two surviving members of the sound four; Kimimaro, sole surviving member of the Kaguya clan; and three new figures, survivors of Orochimaru's organization that were rallied over the years.

One, a young woman with dark eyes and blue hair tied up in a spiky ponytail, two strands framing her face. Red lipstick was the only makeup she wore, the color vibrant against her fair skin.

The second, a product of Orochimaru's experimentations, was a teenager with white hair (though, one could notice a slight blue tint if they looked hard enough), sharp purple eyes, and a fanged tooth hanging from his closed mouth.

The third, quite possibly Orochimaru's most valuable subject, was a timid-looking man with spiky orange hair.

Guren looked to Kabuto in disgust, not thrilled with having to take orders from _him _of all people.

Kabuto pushed his glasses up his face, "We've mastered our ki. You've learned how to implement it effectively with your curse marks. Now," he held up a finger, "it's time we set our sights on the next objective..."

"Sasuke..." Kimimaro nodded. Having gotten in touch with his life energy, the sole survivor managed to earn himself a slight extension on his lifespan. Kabuto knew the man was destined to die soon… now, it was all a matter of preserving his lineage…

"That's right." Kabuto said.

"Psh, why do we give a shit about this Sasuke guy anyways?" Suigetsu asked.

"Because when we _wack _the Leaf we don't wanna go up against someone with a sharingan. Retard!" Tayuya snapped.

Suigetsu put his hands up and smirked, knowing that act alone was enough to irritate the flute player.

"It's better to have Sasuke as an ally, than an enemy." Kabuto explained, "He's arguably one of the deadliest ninja in the Leaf village, so to have him a part of our force will make our ultimate mission of destroying the Leaf lean more in our favor." His gaze hardened, "Orochimaru always intended for Sasuke to join us. Aside from crippling Konoha by killing its Kage, bringing Sasuke into our world was one of Orochimaru's goals. As such, we will fulfill it."

Guren shook her head and looked to the side, "I'm not buying for a second that Lord Orochimaru is dead… but whatever. I'll play ball."

XXX

A remote village in the Land of Valleys went silent.

The streets were paved with various clothes and garments, the wind that swept through the peaceful little town carrying the lighter weighted clothes through the streets.

One lone, terrified man hid inside the closet of his home. Cold sweats pouring down his face, he cradled himself as his heart pounded like a jackhammer against his chest.

The disgustingly rhythmic sounds of gulping filled the man's ears, the sounds indicating the creature responsible was right inside his home, slurping up his wife.

The creature finished off its drink, leaving an empty kimono on the wooden floor. It turned to the nearby closet, hearing the rapid heartbeat of another morsel behind the door.

It grinned as it stepped up to the closet door, its scaled fingers grasping the doorknob.

With a slight tug, the monster completely ripped the door off its hinges, sending it across the room behind it.

The man squeaked in horror, his already pale skin turning ghostly white. The monster before him spoke, something that seemed to horrify the man even further,

"The Androids… would you… by chance, know their whereabouts?" The creature's voice was shrill and impish, something that only added to its nightmarish persona.

The man shook his head, looking ready to pass out at any given moment.

The monsters purple predatory eyes stared down at the man, before the creature looked up at the closet ceiling in thought, "It would appear that none of these remote towns have any information on them. As I'm in unknown territory, I'd prefer to keep a low profile, but I doubt I'd get anywhere if I keep up the same routine." the beast looked back down at the man it towered over, "Perhaps I should move on to larger towns, would you agree?"

The man didn't answer.

"Yes, I think _that _would be ideal." the creature hissed with a smile curving its beaked mouth. It continued to stare down at the man it towered over, "Hmmm, but before I continue my journey, I think I should…" the stinger to its tail raised, tears filling the man's eyes as he prepared for what was to come, "_fully quench my thirst_."

The man's screams echoed through the ghost town of a village.

XXX

**(Deep Space)**

Somewhere in a galaxy far away, on a moon hanging above a gas giant, three men trained.

Or, more accurately, two men trained. The third sat on a flat rock, boredly watching the two younger fighters go at it with one another.

The oldest of the three was a man with wild hair, a scarred face, and a brown tail wrapped around his waist. He wore a black shirt with long sleeves underneath a black and green battle vest. Red shinguards with matching colored wristlets and headband were noticeable among his attire as well.

The two young men sparred in a dance of sword clashes that left sparks at each impact. One of the men was obviously inhuman, with his pointed ears and pink mohawk. A gold band wrapped around the back of the bald surface of his head.

His opponent was a young adult with long lavender hair, hair that he kept tied back. He wore a black tank-top and dark-gray sweatpants, brown boots strapped on his feet.

Trunks gave a battle-cry as he thrust his sword forward, his opponent quickly blocking the tip of Trunks blade with the width of his own. Strangely, the mohawked man wielded the same type of sword as Trunks.

Bardock watched as the mohawked alien went skidding back across the ground from the force of Trunks attack. The older saiyan rolled his eyes, watching as the alien got back to his feet. Before he and Trunks could clash again, Bardock stood up, an act that caught the attention of the two swordsmen.

"Trunks, Mino," Bardock addressed the two, folding his arms as his black eyes looked up into the endless void of stars above, "It's time to head back home."

XXX

A/N: Once again, I apologize for all of the "perspective jumping" towards the end of the chapter.

There will be a lot less of that moving forward.

Anyways, leave me a review with your thoughts!


	4. Abducted

A/N: What's going on guys! Happy (belated) New Years!

XXX

Deidara's bird soared over the quiet sand village, the nin shaking his head in disappointment, "Such an ugly little place." he pulled an eyepiece from his supply bag, fastening it to his face as he looked over the village for his target. He pushed his bang aside so he could see properly. A smile crossed his face as a thought came to mind; the thought of dropping an explosion right on top of this dust bowl. He could already see it, the blinding flash of light, the crushing shock wave followed by a flaming tidal wave that would sweep away the foundations to this squalid burg.

'Hm, to add my artistic touch would be an improvement.'

He gazed all across the village.

"Come on… show yourself." Deidara said to himself. He grinned as he caught his target in his line of sight. "Ahhh, _there _you are."

Gaara stood from his rooftop, staring directly at Deidara.

Deidara removed the eye piece from his head, the Akatsuki preparing himself for whatever the Kazekage was planning.

Carefully, Deidara's hand slowly inched inside of his clay bag. His tongued hand molded the clay inside while adding chakra to the material.

The sweeping sound of wind behind him made Deidara's gaze quickly snap to his right. To his surprise, Temari flew directly at him, the kunoichi riding atop her fan.

The young woman grabbed her fan by the handle, leaping from it as she swung a deadly gust of wind at Deidara.

The Akatsuki was knocked clearly off his bird, Deidara grinning maniacally as he fell over the village. Temari's gasped as Deidara's bird swelled up akin to an overfilled balloon.

**BOOM!**

Temari was blown away by the massive explosion, Gaara quickly sending up a torrent of sand to shield his village from the violent shockwave and fire.

Deidara held in his hand another clay bird. With a hand sign, the pocket sized sculpture formed into a massive kaiju of a bird that he rode atop, its white wings flapping torrents of wind that shook the sand village.

Temari, though dazed, could feel the soft grains of sand underneath her. She sat up, quickly noticing that Gaara managed to catch her and her fan in mid-air. The bed of sand quickly levitated her over to her brother, laying her down gently next to him.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked his big sister, not taking his eyes off Deidara's bird as it soared high above the village.

The shockwave hit Temari before any of the heat did, clearing her of the range of the blast before she could suffer any major damage from the explosion.

"Just fine, don't worry about me." Temari said as she stood up and wielded her fan.

The two siblings guards went up as a flock of smaller birds soared off the gargantuan, dive bombing straight for them.

XXX

Team Shikamaru gathered at the village gates; Tenten strapping her scroll to her back as the rest of the team waited for Shikamaru and Sasuke to join them.

Sasuke walked silently with Shikamaru, the two having exited the Hokage building from their meeting with Danzo.

Shikamaru, like the rest of the Konoha 8 that stayed loyal to the village, had come to find missions that he'd disagree with as he moved up in rank. This mission, was one of them. The thought of assassinating a Kage _did_ rub him the wrong way; not that he didn't believe he could accomplish it, but because of the moral implications of such an act.

Despite these thoughts, he would do what his village asked. Shinobi were expected to perform harsh acts, it simply came with the territory.

Sasuke and he made it to the rest of the team, the group quickly shooting off into the air with a confirming nod from Shikamaru.

The Nara groaned as the group soared through the cloudy evening skies, "Ugh, this missions such a drag."

Some things never changed.

"12 hour flight here we go." Tenten sighed as Choji nodded. Neji grunted, a sign of his agreement as well.

"We still don't know what the Akatsuki are capable of." Shikamaru said, "A long ranged surprise attack is the most logical choice. Nobody make a move until I can catch the two of them with Shadow Possession. If Sasuke can nail'em with a fireball before they even knew what hit'em, this mission will be a wrap."

"And what if they've already captured the Kazekage?" Tenten asked, "I think getting him out of harm's way would be ideal."

"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it." Neji said, "We still don't know what sort of environment we'd be working with once we reach them."

"Fair." Tenten said.

Sasuke's eyes were closed, the Uchiha practically sleeping mid-flight. He wasn't worried about this mission in the slightest. He was more than confident that he could take out these Akatsuki with little difficulty.

Or… most of them, at least.

His brother, he was still certain could give him quite a bit of trouble.

Maybe he couldn't. Or, maybe Sasuke still held some morbid feelings of Big Brother Worship that he hadn't moved on from.

Sasuke both anticipated and feared the day he crossed paths with Itachi again. He knew, _ absolutely _and without a shadow of a doubt, that the next time he crossed paths with his big brother, only one Uchiha would be left breathing in this world.

Every mission he undertook, he would pray he'd cross paths with Itachi, or, at least another member of the Akatsuki. To even cross paths with another Akatsuki member would mean he could interrogate them on Itachi's whereabouts.

Danzo had tried his best to make the Leaf's enemies Sasuke's own, something that hadn't went over Sasuke's head.

Danzo had tried to make Gaara Sasuke's enemy, but that simply wouldn't be. Sasuke would only ever consider the Akatsuki and his brother his true enemies… and Otogakure… and the Androids, to an extent.

Though, the Androids, he'd leave to Trunks. They were to Trunks what Itachi was to Sasuke. An enemy only _he _had the right to defeat.

Though, admittedly, a small iota of Sasuke wanted the Androids to kill Itachi as well. But, alas, if that were to happen, his clan wouldn't truly be avenged.

Sasuke's eyes opened as he and his team quietly flew over the sea of green foliage below.

Regardless of this mission, he knew where his priorities were. Shake the Akatsuki for information on Itachi's whereabouts. That's it.

Did Sasuke care about Gaara? Nope. Did he care if the Kazekage died on this mission? Not really. Did he even _agree _to killing the guy himself? No, he did not.

So, as such, Sasuke wouldn't _make _the Kazekage his problem.

Danzo could shove it.

XXX

Kankuro leaped back, hands and fingers shifting as he manipulated his puppets to move in the path of Sasori's attack.

The puppet master of the Akatsuki intended on stabbing or slicing Kankuro with his bladed tail appendage, a tactic that quickly put Kankuro on the defensive.

The Jackal rapid fired senben needles from his fingers, Sasori's tail swinging wildly to deflect the needles.

Kankuro intended for the Jackal to serve as a replacement for the Crow, the puppet he lost three years ago. Having created this puppet from scratch, he'd made it to not only be faster than Karasu, but also have several upgrades as well.

The Jackal's chest opened, a canon shooting up at Sasori from the hole in its torso. The missing nin of Suna _sliced _the cannonball in half, the halves of the ball exploding behind him as he dropped over Kankuro.

"Oh, damn!" Kankuro cursed desperately as he manipulated Salamander get in front of him, effectively shielding him from the thrust of Sasori's blade tail. Sasori, sensing danger from behind, phased out as a bladed scythe spun through the air behind him.

Missing its target, the blade boomeranged back to the Jackal's forehead, reattaching itself. The Akatsuki appeared back down on the ground, the Salamander setting itself in front of Kankuro like a shield while the Jackal hung up in the air several yards above it.

"I must say," Sasori said as he eyed Kankuro's newest puppet, "I have yet to see a model such as this. It's crafted well. You've designed it yourself?"

"That's right." Kankuro said, "My old puppet got blown up by some asshole I ran into a few years back."

"Pity." Sasori said.

The sounds of footsteps along the rooftops drew near, Sasori disregarding the other Sand ninja that were entering the fight.

Six suna-nin stood on the rooftops as three leaped down with kunai drawn to get in close to Sasori. Even more were quickly closing in.

With the Akatsuki nin completely surrounded, Kankuro manipulated the Jackal's thick arms to aim at the cloaked ninja. The slots on the puppet's arms shifted apart, opening to four black rocket-like projectiles that hissed smoke at their base, before firing at the Akatsuki.

Sasori's head tilted, tail whipping before he burst into action. He leaped up at the shinobi that dropped down over him; quickly cleaving one in half, bisecting another, before impaling a kunoichi with the tip all in one lightning quick and fluid motion. He flung the kunoichi at one of the missiles, the detonation from the impact pasting her and setting off the other projectiles.

Forcing his eyes open through the smoke, heat, and liquid; Kankuro watched as Sasori, instead of diving down for him, aimed his left arm up into the sky.

"**Puppet Technique: Prosthetic Arm Senbon!"**

The bulky appendage shot off and up dozens of yards into the sky. The bucket rotated at a high speed, before the wooden cylinders attached to it shot off in a dozen different directions. The cylinders opened, each one releasing a wave of senbon that shot into the village populace at bullet speed, hitting shinobi and civilian alike.

Of the suna-shinobi that pursued Sasori, several of them were unfortunate enough to take a senbon to the neck, the eyes, and the skull.

Kankuro, lucky enough to have Salamander as a shield, could hear the nin and populace cry out in pain when the effects of Sasori's special toxin took hold.

Before he could act further, Kankuro's heart leaped into his throat at the sound of an earth shattering explosion blossoming on the opposite end of the village. A massive fireball with the potential of wiping out a massive chunk of the village hung in the sky, the force of the sphere pushing away buildings and burying people under the destruction. He could barely spot a sphere of sand hanging a mile high in the air, what could only be Gaara and Temari only disappear within the flash.

The second Kankuro noticed a shadow appear at his side, he followed suit by diving back, narrowly dodging Sasori's tail that slammed into the side joint of the Salamander's frill, knocking the shield off completely.

Now at close proximity to Sasori, and without Salamander as a practical defense, Kankuro put his focus on using offense as defense. Twin wrist blades a foot long slid from the slots of the Jackal's arms, the puppet getting in an up close assault on Sasori in an effort to allow Kankuro more distance.

Sasori sliced Kankuro's puppet vertically in half to neutralize it. Sasori's gaze burned holes into Suna's ventriloquist. Kankuro's fingers twitched in anticipation of the upcoming attack.

Sasori charged straight for him, tail blade hanging over his head.

Just as Sasori was within a yard's distance of his target, the Black Ant sprung out from the dirt below, torso opened wide to swallow and entrap the Akatsuki nin.

'Can't waste time!' Kankuro thought as he hurriedly manipulated Jackal, despite its mangled form, **"Ninja Art: Grenade Maiden!"** The puppets limbs disconnected, the bladed ends that connected to the puppets joints flying into the opened slots of the Black Ant. The hissing of smoke from the limbs themselves were a signal that Kankuro would hate himself for what came next.

The limbs exploded akin to six powerful bombs, the puppet master covering his face to shield himself from the explosion.

'Sorry Ant… that was the only way…' Kankuro thought as he lowered his arm, the wood shards that remained from the Ant littering the ground. A ring of soot from the explosion stained the dirt.

Kankuro immediately noticed something wrong… a severe lack of human messy bits.

The shift of sand grains behind him brought Kankuro to a panic. He moved to leap forward while turning his head, him just barely catching a glimpse of the tail protruding from the dirt.

With a quick swipe, a deep yet thin gash was opened in Kankuro's back. The puppeteer cried out and stumbled forward.

The cold sting of sliced flesh was only the beginning.

Suddenly, without warning, an explosion of raw, searing, firey pain dropped Kankuro to his knees, howling to the sky as he grabbed at his back.

Sasori emerged completely from the dirt, the hunchback staring down at Kankuro as he writhed on the ground in agony.

"Wh-What did… you… do to me!" Kankuro ground out, his eyes reddening as saliva poured from his mouth.

"Poison." Sasori said, voice casual as Kankuro's eyes widened in horror, "You'll suffer for three long days, and then you'll die." He looked to Deidara who flew in, a red headed figure lying unconscious on the bird.

Other suna nin lay dead on the battlefield, decapitated from explosions to the head…

"Can we take our leave?" Deidara asked.

Sasori turned away from Kankuro, the puppeteer reaching out weakly to his brother, "G… Gaara…" it was then his thoughts went to his sister… "Temari… _no_…"

And with that, darkness overtook him.

XXX

(Mount Myobokuzan)

Naruto and Sakura stood before Kakashi, the two former students facing off with their former sensei in front of a live audience.

Kakashi's sharingan was exposed to the two teenagers, the silver haired man pulling a familiar object from his side.

Two bells, that he jingled tauntingly in front of his opponents.

At seeing the bells, a wave of nostalgia filled Tsunade. She could remember the test Hiruzen conducted when she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were genin… life was so simple back then.

"So…" Naruto grinned as he stretched his arm, "Same rules still apply?" he asked Kakashi.

Kakashi noticed the equally cocky grin across Sakura's face, and immediately knew what they were counting on. When he performed this test with Team 7 over three years ago, he gave them explicit directions to kill him. At _that _time, he was more than capable of handling them as newly grads of the academy.

Now, he could say for certainty, that his former students were now a force to be reckoned with.

But… he couldn't allow himself to look like a chump, "Lets just say you've been granted whatever means to get these bells."

"Even prying them from your cold dead fingers?" Sakura asked, "I can work with that."

"Hoo boy." Kakashi sighed.

Bulma cheered from the sidelines, "You got this Kakashi! Make those kiddies learn to respect their elders!"

Shizune and Tonton watched happily from the sidelines, silently rooting for the jonin as well.

All of the youth's were actively rooting for Naruto and Sakura; Fu, Ino, and Rock Lee cheering the loudest out of the group.

Tsunade, though she wouldn't express it, was silently rooting for Sakura most of all. Her hatred of this exercise back when she was a kid, coupled with her seeing a bit of herself in Sakura pushed the sannin into throwing her lot in with Haruno.

The instant Kakashi saw a twitch of movement in the teen's feet, he shot up in the air, Sakura going straight up for him as Naruto launched back, hands forming into a sign he knew all too well.

Instantly filling the battlefield with close to fifty Shadow Clones, each bunshin pulled fistfuls of shuriken into their grasp.

Kakashi eyed Sakura, who was quickly ascending up to him, but could still take notice of the bunshin's actions down on the ground below.

The copy-ninja's eyes widened when the ground turned went from orange and black, to just pure black as a storm of metal shot past him from all directions, Naruto's throws expertly missing Sakura who continued straight for the older man.

"Interesting." Tsunade thought out loud, "Naruto's making it impossible for Kakashi to properly maneuver,"

"Meaning he'll be still for Sakura to close the distance." Shizune finished with a nod.

Sakura's hand glow blue as she reared her fist back, Kakashi growing apprehensive as he put up his cybernetic to block the punch head on.

The shockwave of the impact knocked dozens of the shuriken out of trajectory. Sakura followed up with another punch that Kakashi weaved, the man quickly learning that he would have to take Sakura from a distance.

He tactically blocked another punch from Sakura with his prosthetic, allowing the force of the punch to send him back and up a great distance. The man's bicep was nicked by a shuriken in the ceasing assault.

The Jonin put his hands to his eyes, **"Solar Flare!"**

Sakura and every Naruto on the ground cried out in surprise, the mass eruption of the bunshin's filling the battlefield with so much smoke it piled up a half-mile into the air.

The light on Kakashi's prosthetic changed from blue to yellow as he flew towards Sakura. Though the young woman could sense Kakashi, the teen's blurry eyes kept her from acting appropriately.

A ki blast at point blank range sent Sakura back towards the ground. She caught her bearings enough to soar back next to Naruto.

The two nin's rubbed the vision back into their eyes. Naruto and Sakura looked up to see that Kakashi was nowhere in sight.

"Ugh," Naruto groaned, "I _really _hate that move."

"Where'd he go?" Sakura asked out loud, her green eyes unable to spot Kakashi up in the sky.

Naruto's blue eyes quickly widened before he looked down at the grass under his feet.

He immediately shot up into the air as Kakashi's hands burst out from the ground under him, barely missing his ankles.

Sakura smirked as she lifted her foot, before bringing it down into the ground so hard the plain exploded like a bomb went off.

Giant chunks of the earth lifted up, Kakashi laying in the deep crater… seemingly unconscious.

Sakura wasn't fooled for a second.

She pulled a kunai and threw it at Kakashi's body, the jonin's form bursting in a surge of electricity when the knife made contact.

"Great. _Now _where did he go?" Naruto wondered.

"Kakashi knows I could take him in a boxing match, so he's _definitely _gonna keep his distance." Sakura said.

The two teens then looked to the forest at the edge of the battlefield.

"We should stick close." Naruto said, "We don't need him tricking us with a transformation."

"Keep clones to a minimum for the same reason." Sakura said as the two shot into the forest.

The audience floated up into the air over the forest to get a better view. Bulma sat atop #16's shoulder as she sipped on a glass of lemonade.

Naruto and Sakura hopped from tree to tree in an effort to find their former sensei.

Eventually the two got fed up, "Oh Kakashi-sensei~" Sakura said in a sing song voice, "If you don't come out we're gonna have to pull a Trunks and start blowing up half the forest with you in it~"

"You remember what happened last time we had this test." Naruto smirked, knowing Kakashi was somewhere having flashbacks to the first bell test.

And the jonin was.

Kakashi's eye twitched when he remembered how Trunks almost blew him up along with half the training ground forest with that "Burning Attack" technique those years back. And, Kakashi knew full well that Naruto was now capable of equal destruction.

Kakashi sighed. He didn't even wanna do this test. It was Naruto and Sakura who'd challenged him to it. The jonin flashed through hand signs at an inhuman speed, before he held his prosthetic hand to his side, light flashing blue and yellow as electricity sparked at the palm. In less than a second, a lightning formed disk of ki filled his palm,

'**Lightning Kienzan!'**

Naruto's eyes widened as the sound of a blade slicing through air quickly reached his ears. He twisted into a dodge that barely allowed him to clear the disk that shot past him, the disk cutting cleanly through trees.

Sakura gasped as wire wrapped around her, pinning her to a nearby tree.

Naruto felt Kakashi come down on top of him hard, pinning him to a tree branch where the silver haired jonin pinned Naruto's arm behind his back.

Kakashi sighed with satisfaction, "Ahhh, you should know not to mess with your sensei Naruto." The copy-ninja smiled, "I wonder how it feels losing a game you started."

"Who says I lost?" Naruto grinned, "Me and Sakura were just having fun. We can end this right now if you want."

Kakashi looked back to Sakura who was still pinned helplessly to the tree, "Now I'm interested."

Sakura's form burst into white smoke, a mild surprise to Kakashi.

And then he looked back to the still grinning blonde beneath him, who burst into white smoke as well, in his place a paper tag that hissed yellow smoke that Kakashi breathed in.

The jonins eyes widened as his muscles softened into what felt like wet bags of cement, his arms flopping down limply to his sides as his vision in his right eye turned into a haze akin to a foggy mirror.

Ino smiled as she watched the poison she concocted affecting Kakashi, "Your welcome, Sakura."

Kakashi, though he couldn't move, heard the jingle of bells to his side.

"Wh-what… is… that…" Kakashi said through lips he could barely move.

"A toxin Ino made." Sakura said, "It tells your brain to turn off the nerves in the muscles. After two minutes it should affect the heart."

"Meaning we should _probably _get the antitoxin in you." Naruto said.

"Do you want the antitoxin Kakashi?" Sakura asked with a smile.

"Th… that… would.. be… nice…"

Sakura took out a small pouch within her ninja tool bag. She poured a white powder within her palm and blew it into Kakashi's face, the jonin breathing it in and regaining control of his body.

Within minutes, the group were back in the Capsule home. #16 sat in the dining room, hands disconnected and laying on the table as Bulma performed maintenance on him. Lee did her the courtesy of handing her the necessary tools when needed.

"Nice work with the poison Ino!" Naruto said, the blonde sitting next to Fu on the couch, the young woman busy gaming.

"Thanks!" the Yamanaka said as she went back to her botany book, "I'm _still _trying to come up with one that kills on the spot."

"Can I _not _be your guinea pig for that?" Kakashi asked, the man sitting at the dining room table across from Bulma and the Android.

"Well I have to test _someone_." Ino said, "If I use it on someone in the battlefield and its a dud then _I'll _look dumb."

"You can't argue with that!" Karin added; Fu, Shinhan, and Shizune nodding in agreement.

Tsunade nodded to Sakura, "Later on, I want you to arm wrestle the robot. I wanna see how-"

A gasp from Naruto and Fu brought everyone's attention to the two teens. Red youki seeped off the two of them, the chakra gathering on to the coffee table in front of them.

The chakra began to take on two different shapes, until two foot-high critters sat on the coffee table… a beetle and a fox.

"OH MY GOODNESS THEY'RE SO CUTE!" Karin squealed when she saw them. She reached toward the nine tailed fox in a trance-like manner, "I must pet-"

**"Wanna keep that hand?"** Kurama growled at her, Karin frowning and stepping back.

"Kurama, Chomei, what are two doing?" Naruto asked, everyone else in the home gathering around the two mini-bijuu.

Kurama glared at Naruto, the fox still not too fond of the boy, **"Our kin… Shukaku the one tail, he's in danger."**

"Gaara? Gaara's in trouble!?" Fu asked, "How do you know for sure?"

Chomei turned to his host, **"Oh, ya didn't know, Fu? We bijuu can sense each other's well being, even from long distances! From the looks of things, Shukaku's host has been beat down so badly Shukaku can't even take over his unconscious body."**

Fu immediately stood up, "Well, we've gotta go find him!" She looked to Naruto, "I _promised _Gaara we wouldn't let anything happen to him!"

Naruto nodded as he stood up, "We're _gonna _do something. Don't worry."

Kakashi looked down, 'Akatsuki's made their move _now_. None too surprising.' He looked to the small bijuu on the table, asking "Is it possible for you to track where Shukaku is right at this moment?"

Kurama glared at the man, **"No. Nor do I care to. My only concern is of hindering the forces that wish to take me."**

Naruto glared back at the fox, 'Does he still have to be such a dick?'

Sakura looked to Tsunade, "Do you think it's safe for us to come out of hiding again?"

Tsunade looked over the teens, "There's not a doubt in my mind that you all can handle yourselves. Just don't get careless."

"Right."

XXX

(Rice Country)

Within a small border town where Fire Country met Rice, the Sound Six made a stop at a local tea shop.

Guren's eye twitched as the never ending sounds of Tayuya and Suigetsu's arguing gradually chipped away at her sanity.

"Really Suigetsu, are you shitting me?" Tayuya said, "How the fuck old are you? Fucking _six_?"

Suigetsu grinned cheekily, "Because _only _six year olds need snack breaks… is your genius level statement." A familiar broadsword wrapped in bandages was leaned against his chair behind him.

"Your _lameass_ snack break is holding up our entire _fucking_ mission, wethead" Tayuya growled, "And the snack you just _had _to get was fucking _yogurt_?"

Suigetsu kept his cool as the server brought him what he ordered. He held up the bowl to Tayuya, "Wanna show me on the bowl where the yogurt touched you?"

Like an animal, Tayuya snarled and swatted the yogurt bowl out of Suigetsu's hand, sending it clattering along the floor.

"Well shit…" Suigetsu smirked, "Now we gotta wait even _longer _for another bowl."

"JUST SHUT THE _FUCK _UP SUIGETSU, I SWEAR I'M GONNA-"

"I swear _I'm_ gonna kill the both of you if you don't shut the fuck up!" Guren ground out.

"Seriously." Sakon said in agreement.

Kimimaro, sitting next to Guren, took a sip of tea. He could see Jugo outside the ship in his peripherals, the teen silently playing with the squirrels. Kimimaro set the cup down, "There's no issue with taking a small break. The Leaf is only a few hours away. If the worst case scenario presents itself, we'll need to be at peak condition."

He took another sip.

XXX

Temari lay in the bed of a Suna Hospital. Her body was covered in scars and burns; her arms, legs, and torso bandaged up. Her barely conscious form struggling through more emotional than physical pain.

"G… Gaara…" she sniffled as she thought back to the battle that she'd lost, her memory fuzzy due to a slight concussion.

_She'd swatted away wave after wave of birds, the impact of her winds detonating the claymations and filling the skies with explosions. For every flock she and Gaara fended off to defend themselves, another flock was there to continue the assault._

_Once Deidara aimed his assault on the village, both she and her brother were distracted by the sight of innocent civilians getting blasted apart by Deidara's explosions._

_With that minor distraction, she could only faintly hear the words, 'C3', before her vision was filled with light..._

Her eyes barely opened as she heard the hospital door open. She saw a group of people step into the room, most of them familiar faces.

"Hey Temari, been a while." Naruto grinned, "How's it hanging?"

Temari glared at him, "Let's see, me and only a chunk of my village got_ blown the hell up_, my baby brother kidnapped, and my _other _brother walking the valley of death." She finished as she nodded at Kankuro, who lay unconscious and in pain in the bed to her right, "All things considered, I'm just great."

Naruto responded in kind, "Good to hear!"

Temari huffed and sat up as best she could despite her injuries, "I know you're all here for Gaara." She looked down at her sheets, "You're too late."

"We figured." Shinhan said, Temari gasping when she saw the third eye on the teen's forehead, "So we'll just help bring him back."

'So weird…' Temari thought as she looked at the eye. Karin approached the Kazekage's sister, pulling a bean from a brown wool pouch. Temari looked at the bean, its appearance completely unnatural. It was white with blue splotches all over it, "The hell is this?" Temari asked the redhead as she was handed the bean.

"It's called a Katsu Bean." Karin said, "It's a special healing medicine. It'll instant heal all injuries, including lost limbs and illnesses."

Sakura put her fingers atop Kankuro's jugular, checking his heart rate, "Unfortunately it can't deal with poisons."

Temari sniffed the bean, before she hesitantly put it in her mouth. When she bit down on it, she knew she had _every _reason to be weary.

"BLECH!" Temari nearly spat out the bean. That was the single _worst _thing she'd ever eaten in her life. It was like she'd just eaten a slug wrapped in fish. "What the hell are you trying to do, kill-!"

Her eyes widened as her injuries vanished. A jolt of energy coursed through her veins, pushing her to hop out of the bed. She pulled off her bandages.

"You're _welcome_!" Karin fumed, "No one _ever _thanks me for this!"

Temari looked to Sakura, who had gone to a nearby sink to wash her hands before getting started on Kankuro.

"Are you sure you can help him?" Temari asked her.

"Positive." Sakura said, "The main draw is getting the poison out of his blood. Ino, take a sample of his blood to see if you can find what exactly he was poisoned with. Karin, help me with drainage."

"On it." the girls said in unison.

Temari stood out in the hallway with the rest of the group; everyone allowing Sakura, Ino, and Karin the room to themselves to work on Kankuro.

"You don't have to be worried." Fu said, "Those three were trained by Tsunade of the Legendary Sannin. They'll put Kankuro back together."

Still worried, naturally, Temari's gaze was still glued to the floor.

"What happened here, exactly?" Kakashi asked.

Temari shook her head, "It went down as you expected. They walked right in and took him away."

"Did they say anything about where they may have headed?" Naruto asked, "Did you hear _anything _that might give us a clue on where to even look?"

A flex in Temari's jaw was all the answer they needed.

Fu shook her head, "We have to do _something_." she grabbed Naruto's arm, "I promised him, Naruto." tears came to her eyes, "I _promised _him!"

Normally, Naruto would promise _her _that they _would _find Gaara. But, with nothing to go on, the Uzumaki found it hard to make such a promise…

Temari looked between the group once again, suddenly noticing something about the group she couldn't ignore.

"You're _still _missing one?" she said.

Lee smiled as he instantly caught on, "Trunks-kun is currently out training among the stars."

"What?!" Temari thought out loud, "What do you mean?"

"As in he's training in outer space." the triclops of the group said.

About a million and one questions cycled through Temari's head all at once.

Kakashi, expecting Temari's confusion, sighed as he leaned against the wall, "Long story."

XXX

Deidara and Sasori traversed through a grassy field, the nuke-nin on their way to their base to fulfill their mission. Deidara had Gaara's unconscious and beaten form wrapped up tightly in his bird's tail.

Sitting atop his bird, the claymation gliding mere feet above the ground to carry Gaara and himself. Sasori walked next to his partner, just as satisfied as Deidara in their catch.

"Heh, too damn easy." Sasori said, "If it was _this _easy getting one of the tails, we're probably strong enough to take on the Artificial Humans."

Sasori grunted, "Underestimating an enemy such as them will lead to an early grave." he glared at Deidara, "They killed Kisame and forced a retreat out of Itachi. Not only do you lack artistic knowledge, but you lack self-preservation."

"Tch, Kisame and Itachi aren't _me_." Deidara said, his hand holding a clay spider, "And you're a fine one to talk about artistic knowledge. The one who _naively _believes that art can simply last forever. Absurd."

"You've not made single case to prove your argument."

"My argument is quite simple." Deidara smirked, "It's only common knowledge that nothing beautiful lasts forever. Art, a thing of beauty, is not meant to last long at all. For that reason, I can liken art to an explosion, something… that…"

Deidara trailed off as the two men saw something far off into the west. It was some sort of spaceship lowering through the atmosphere.

"The hell is that?" Deidara wondered out loud. Sasori didn't answer him, the puppeteer just as curious as his partner.

The spherical spacecraft had to have been a good 10-15 miles away, close enough to investigate.

"Hn," Deidara grunted as his bird shot up, Sasori hopping on the claymation before it soared off through the air towards the anomaly.

Within' minutes, the bird closed the distance to the spacecraft. Sasori and Deidara eyed the foreign vehicle, the bird lowering to the ground so the two men could get a better look. Sasori turned to Deidara, "This world just keeps getting stranger."

The door to the spacecraft opened, the Akatsuki weary of whatever may be on the other side.

Three odd men slowly walked out of the spacecraft and out into the open. The physically oldest of the three was a man who appeared to be in his early-mid 30's, wild hair covering his head. He was dressed in black full-body tights, with a strange vest-type armor covering his torso and red arm and leg warmers completing his look. The second of the men was an extraterrestrial with light skin and pointed ears, a foreign garment serving as his dress with a long blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

The nuke-nin didn't miss the sword strapped to his back.

The third member of the trio was a young man who fit the description of a boy they'd heard tales about just years ago. He was tall, tan, had long lavender hair tied back in a ponytail, and hardened blue eyes that bore into the Akatsuki. The young man wore a dark blue jacket over a black t-shirt, black sweatpants, and brown boots. He too had a sword strapped to his back.

Trunks smiled at the Akatsuki before him, "Well well, what a lucky guy I am. Stupid looking robes, funny looking people, and a _whole _lot of bad energy." he pointed at Sasori and Deidara, "You guys hit every beat. Akatsuki, I presume?"

Deidara smiled back, "You _presume _correctly. I take it you must be this Trunks guy I've heard so much about."

"The one and only." Trunks nodded, smirk never waning as his excitement grew, "You know, I've been anticipating meeting you guys face to face."

Sasori hopped off Deidara's bird, already knowing where this was going, "And what business could you _possibly _have with _us_?"

The demi-saiyan pulled his sword, "Killing you… what's it look like?"

XXX

A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter!

Let me know your thoughts!


	5. Homecoming

Last time: The Akatsuki take Gaara from Suna. Danzo sends Team Shikamaru to interrupt their plans altogether, and Team Z goes in to rescue Gaara himself.

This time: The Akatsuki hit a road block in the form of three supermen.

XXX

"Wow… it's beautiful…"

The Capsule ship cruised through the darkness of space, closing in on a familiar blue and green planet. Mino stood at the window, blue eyes gazing out at the planet that gradually grew larger the closer the ship got to it.

"It's not bad." Trunks admitted, the teen leaning back in a chair, legs propped up against the control dashboard. He too gazed out the window, only he stared into the emptiness of space. "The land isn't what I'm used to, but compared to the Earth _I _came from, it's a paradise.

"Tsk, _beautiful?_" Bardock scoffed, the saiyan pulling an alcoholic drink out of the fridge, "You kiddin' me? Planet's a goddamned shithole." he took a seat, cracking open the can before taking a quick guzzle, "Trust me, that view's gonna change when we land."

Trunks chuckled, "Don't listen to him Mino,"

"Oh, I know." the alien said, closing his eyes as he smiled, "He's said that about _every _planet we've visited."

Bardock snorted as he finished his can, crushing the aluminum before tossing it to the floor behind him, "It's true." He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms behind his head, "You wanna talk about a good looking planet, talk Planet Vegeta. _That _was a good looking planet."

"Hey Mino, what is this, the… _fiftieth _time he's said that?" Trunks asked the mohawked alien as he smirked.

"Fifty-seventh to be precise." the alien nodded.

Trunks turned to Bardock, "You know, if you love Planet Vegeta so much you should just go visit… oh wait…"

Bardock glared at the smirking half-saiyan next to him, "Low blow…"

A beep came from the control panel, an indicator that the ship just entered the planet's atmosphere. The windows frosted as the outside of the ship cooled, a mechanism that the ship had to counter the burn from re-entry. Bardock got up to maneuver the spacecraft, aiming to steer the ship clear of any possible hazardous terrain.

Trunks got up from his seat, he himself staring out the window to the world outside. This may not have been _his _Earth... but he sure could call it home.

A flash of light, far off in the distance caught his attention, "What the hell?" he said quietly.

"You caught that too?" Bardock asked his protege.

"Yeah." Trunks said as Mino stood next to him, hoping to see what he saw. It had to have been a hundred miles away, give or take, but that was an obvious explosion. A plume of smoke could be seen rising up into the atmosphere.

"Let's get in closer, shall we." Bardock suggested as he accelerated the ship across the planet.

Trunks stretched out his senses, hoping to get a quick read on his loved ones. He could only hope that in the time he'd been gone, everyone was okay.

It was then he sensed something. An energy he hadn't felt in over 3 years, but he wouldn't forget it.

Gaara? Shukaku?

He could feel both, and they were fluctuating heavily, as if the psychotic redhead were in some sort of conflict. Suddenly, it went faint… and then it moved as if it were steadily traversing.

That didn't bother him. What _did _bother him, were the two other energy signatures surrounding him.

"Feels like trouble." Trunks mumbled as his brow furrowed, 'Mom, Naruto, Ino… everyone, my apologies, but it might be a minute before I get back to you all.' he thought. "Bardock, take us east." the prince ordered.

The older saiyan looked questionably at the lavender haired young man, before doing as told. Still, he asked, "Any reason why?"

"Let's just say things are looking _cloudy_ with a chance of bloodon the horizon." Trunks responded with a cracking of his knuckles.

"Say no more." Bardock nodded, instantly putting two and two together.

Minotia smiled, "I love this planet already. Excitement."

"We'll have no shortage of that, believe me." Trunks nodded to the mohawked alien as he threw on his Capsule Corp. denim jacket, before strapping his sword holster to his back.

Mino grabbed his scarf, wrapping the blue fabric around his neck.

Bardock grunted, "We're gettin' close, but there's no way to land this piece a crap fast enough without those shitbirds bolting at the sight of us."

Trunks shrugged, "We don't have to land the ship right _on top _of them. As long as we're in the vicinity we can intercept them." He smirked at Bardock, "_These _guys can't fly."

"Oh, well I'll be." Bardock set the ship to land about 5 or 6 miles from the targets. "Hope you kids don't mind a little theatrics." Bardock said as he sat back in his chair, lounging comfortably as the Capsule ship lowered as slowly as the engine seemed to want to go at such an urgent time.

As the ship touched grass, the three warriors could feel the three foreign energy signatures appear outside the Capsule ship, waiting in what had to be curiosity.

"Looks like Christmas came to us, boys." Bardock drawled as he stood up out of his chair, walking over to the hatch controls.

"Who opens the presents first?" Trunks asked with a smirk.

"Tsk," Bardock rolled his shoulders as he pressed the button, "If you can't solo _both _of these idiots then the last three years were a waste of my time."

"Fair enough." Trunks said as he looked to Mino, the alien nodding approvingly. The door to the spacecraft slowly opened out, the three men greeted with the sight of two robed weirdos expectedly waiting for them atop a clay formed bird. They casually stepped out of the ship and into the open, Trunks allowing himself the chance to take in the familiar smell of Earth's fresh air after so much time away. This particular area smelled heavily of pine.

Trunks blues eyes locked onto the Akatsuki, Deidara and Sasori staring at him like they knew him.

Time to get introductions out the way.

Trunks smiled at the Akatsuki before him, "Well well, what a lucky guy I am. Stupid looking robes, funny looking people, and a whole lot of bad energy." he pointed at Sasori and Deidara, "You guys hit every beat. Akatsuki, I presume?"

Deidara smiled back, "You presume correctly. I take it you must be this _Trunks _guy I've heard so much about."

"The one and only." Trunks nodded, smirk never waning as his excitement grew, "You know, I've been anticipating meeting you guys face to face."

Sasori's head tilted unnaturally, almost like an owl's. He hopped off Deidara's bird, already knowing where this was going, "And what business could you _possibly _have with us?"

The demi-saiyan pulled his sword, holding it in front of his face to reflect the Akatsuki in the metal, "Killing you… what's it look like?"

XXX

Naruto punched his palm, "We aren't getting anywhere just standing around." He stood up, "I'm gonna look for him."

"That makes two of us." Fu said as she stood up in the hall as well.

"Three of us makes a crowd." Shinhan said as she stepped up.

"And four makes a party." Lee said as he stepped up next to the triclops.

Another set of footsteps drew all eyes to Kankuro's door. Ino stood in the doorway, "Make room for one more?"

"Heh, got tired of handling Kankuro?" Naruto asked.

Ino smiled, "Sakura and Karin got him covered. I'd be a nonfactor." she shrugged, "Might as well be an extra set of eyes."

"Cool!" Naruto fist pumped, "With all of us out there, we'll find Gaara in no time!"

"So eager." Temari huffed with a roll of her eyes, "Do any of you even know _where _you're going?"

"Nope." Naruto said as he and Fu walked down the hall, "So we'll split up and signal out if we find anything. Me and Fu got dibs on north."

"I'll take the South." Kakashi sighed as he leaned off the wall, "Ino, be my guest?"

"Sure." the Yamanaka said.

"I got the east." Shinhan said as Lee nodded,

"Which leaves me with the west."

Temari looked around at the group, "You know you aren't leaving me out of this."

Lee quickly suggested, "You can come with me, I will gladly fly you."

"What-why?" Shinhan quickly asked.

Lee was quickly taken aback, the shaggy haired young man quickly explaining himself in confusion, "I just thought, if by chance_ I _encountered the Akatsuki it would be best if I had someone at my side who could cover me with range. I _am _just limited to my fists after all."

"Yeah but," Shinhan said as if she didn't care, "Whatever sure do what you have to." the bluenette said as she walked away.

"Wait-what!?" Temari quickly interrogated Lee, "When and _where_ did _you _learn to fly?"

"Um… television?" Lee quickly lied with a red face.

Temari glared daggers at him, 'Me and the lavender wonder are gonna have words…'

"Lets go." Temari ordered as she and Lee left the hall with everyone else.

XXX

Ringed eyes opened, shining brightly in the darkness.

Konan noticed the sudden shift in energy in the air. She turned to her superior, "What is it?"

"Trunks Briefs." Pain said, voice barely above a whisper, "He's encountered Deidara and Sasori."

"Is he a threat?" She asked.

Pain held his answer, "I can not risk the lives of any more Akatsuki. Not now."

XXX

Deidara grinned at the young man, the tongue in his palm salivating in anticipation of molding more clay, "Kill us? Heh, that's big talk if you know _our _rep."

"If you knew _mine_, you'd know I can back it up." Trunks said as he gave his sword a small twirl in his palm. He glanced at the red headed figure laying behind Deidara, face and body cracked from still damaged sand armor, "That's a familiar face. I'm not one for guessing, but I'll assume you guys didn't _exactly_ find Gaara like that."

"Not a _bad _guess." Sasori drawled, "Unfortunately for us, your friend here didn't wanna accept an invite to a party we were hosting. Unfortunately for _him_, we _insisted _he come."

"We'll be sure to show him a good time." Deidara said, "You can have him back by tonight."

"That's sweet. I wouldn't exactly call him a _friend _though." Trunks said, "Regardless, I can't just let you have him."

A bladed tail slithered out of the rear of Sasori's robe, the tip hanging over his head.

Trunks noticed Mino pull out an instrument from his pocket, an ocarina. The Akatsuki's guard's were up as the alien put the instrument to his lips, and played a quick soft melody. The alien looked at Gaara as he played, something that raised Trunks suspicions.

"What was that about?" Trunks asked as Mino put his ocarina back where he pulled it.

"Just a precaution, Trunks." the alien assured him, "Just a precaution."

Just as Deidara's hand inched into his bag, a voice echoed in his and Sasori's heads,

_*Deidara, Sasori, you are not to engage Trunks. Escape with the One Tail. Now.*_

Keeping both pairs of eyes on their enemy, Deidara said to Sasori, "Guess the boss has other plans."

"So it seems." Sasori replied, "You go."

"Why do _I _have to go?" Deidara fumed, really wanting a chance to fight the half-saiyan across from him.

"Because the ultimate _goal _is to preserve the One Tail, you idiot." Sasori said, "We're outnumbered and I'm more vulnerable on that damn bird. Besides," Trunks noticed a hint of craze behind those eyes, "I think Trunks here would make a nice addition to my collection."

Deidara huffed in begrudged acceptance, "Fine." Just as his bird turned, the claymation slowly soaring higher up into the air, Gaara's body sinking into the clay to keep him safe and secure.

Bardock snorted, sensing the power of puppet Akatsuki in front of him. Not even worth his time, neither was the blonde idiot on the bird. He stepped back and took a seat on the steps of the Capsule Ship entrance.

Trunks and Sasori locked eyes, Minotia's eyes going to Deidara.

Just as the claymation turned to soar off, Deidara heard the sound of metal chopping through wind, quickly racing up to his ears. By the time his brain told his body to move, Deidara's left arm was sliced off at the elbow. The man cried out in pain as he grabbed his bleeding stump, a sword boomeranging back to Minotia's palm.

"Go!" Sasori ordered, Deidara's bird jetting off at near mach speed.

"Sorry Trunks, couldn't help myself." the pale skinned alien said, "May I?"

"Hey, have at him." Trunks shrugged, "Just don't shoot any ki blasts at the bird, don't wanna hurt the cargo." Trunks said in reference to Gaara.

Minotia smiled and flew off, chasing down the Akatsuki.

Sasori's tail encircled his body defensively, the Akatsuki's eyes glancing over at Bardock for a half-second,

"Don't worry about him." Trunks said, "He'll stay out of this, trust me. It's just you and me ugly."

"Ideal." Sasori said as sand seeped from the grass next to Sasori, forming an exact clone of himself.

Trunks flashed his aura, the grass tearing up from the ground around him to reveal the soil beneath. "Your move." he challenged.

XXX

Naruto and Fu flew through the air, both pairs of their eyes scanning the ground below.

Naruto looked to his fellow jinchuriki, noticing the depressed air she was giving off.

"We're gonna find him." Naruto promised her.

"I know." She said, passing him a smile, "I promised him. You promised me. That's one thing you've never broken. And_ I _definitely won't start now."

It was then the two teens stopped mid-flight. They felt something they hadn't felt in years suddenly flare up in the horizon.

"No way…" Naruto breathed, eyes brightening and smile breaking out across his face.

"Race ya' to him tiger!" Fu said as she flew off, Naruto jetting off after her.

XXX

Shinhan flew through the east, blue hair and red ribbon whipping through the wind.

She came to a sudden halt, eyes widening as she smirked, "Well it's about time, loser!" she whipped a u-turn a blasted off in a blue flame.

XXX

Ino's eyes widened, the young woman's heart practically stopping in her chest.

Kakashi felt it too, the man's heart warming just as much at the energy he sensed.

'Welcome home, kid.' Kakashi thought as Ino shot off, the man quickly following suit.

XXX

Temari clung to Lee's back, the woman's eyes scanning the ground below for any signs of her little brother.

Her frustration rose as Lee came to a sudden stop mid flight.

"What's the hold up?" She asked him, spotting the smile the teen had that spread ear to ear.

Lee turned his head to her, "Trunks. He's back."

"And that's important _now_?" Temari almost growled.

"He's in action." Lee said, "Meaning he most likely found Gaara before us."

"Then move your ass!" Temari urged, Lee shooting off after the source.

X

Team Shikamaru soared through Wind Country, the terrain slowly shifting from grassy green, to stony gray, to sandy brown in their travels.

"We'll land about 10 miles outside of the village walls." Shikamaru said, gaining the attention from the rest of the squad, "Neji, Sasuke, you'll use your dojutsu to-"

The team froze, feeling an all-too familiar energy.

"You… you guys feel that?" Choji asked, Tenten nodding in response, a smile brightening her face.

Sasuke couldn't help the hint of a smile that cracked the corner of his mouth. Neji couldn't hide the frown that deepened his features.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed in anticipation, for much the same reason as Neji's… they may be encountering the traitors earlier than anticipated.

XXX

Sasori's tail slung out at the half-saiyan, his sand clone leaping up high into the air and over him.

Casually weaving the tip of the tail, Trunks thrust his palm forward, sending forth a powerful shockwave that tore a wide furrow through the ground, striking the Akatsuki puppet master full force.

Sasori's sand clone swung the spiked length of its tail down on Trunks, the demi-saiyan swinging his sword up to meet the blade, cleaving through it and turning the disjointed end back to sand. The bunshin landed down on all fours, launching at Trunks in a deadly brown blur as it reformed its tail.

The saiyan moved quicker, getting through the clone's defense to land an elbow into its jaw that burst the bunshins face. The saiyan teen performed an acrobatic flip kick just as the real Sasori's tail burst from the ground below, allowing him to burst the rest of the bunshins head with the tip of his foot and let him dodge.

The second Trunks' feet touched the ground he swung his sword behind him, clashing his metal against the metal of the real Sasori's tail blade. Sasori followed up with a flurry of swings with his tail, all blocked and parried by Trunks sword. The headless bunshin also joined in the assault in an effort to breach Trunks' defense, but to no avail as the young man simply doubled his speed.

'Tsk,' Bardock thought, the older saiyan casually sitting on the ground with his arms folded over his chest, 'Kid's not even trying. This bastard's power pales in comparison to Trunks own...'

Naruto and Fu arrived in the battle area, the two observing the clash from above.

A grin slipped across the Uzumaki's face, Naruto proud at not only seeing his friend after three whole years, but at how well he was handling this Akatsuki.

Fu smirked as well when Trunks grabbed Sasori's tail by the space inbetween the joint and the tip. The saiyan crossed his free hand over his arm, before blasting the clone into nothing, "Welcome back Golden Swordsman." She looked to Bardock, her feelings on the man not changed much over the years, "So much for hoping _he'd _get sucked out of the ship's airlock." she said, though not loudly enough for Bardock to hear… fortunately.

Trunks swung the Akatsuki puppet master around by his tail before throwing him high up into the air.

Kakashi and Ino appeared, the two flying up next to Naruto.

"Arriving back in style, I see." Kakashi said more to himself than anyone else.

"Wow." Ino breathed when she got a good look at the man she'd yearned for all these years.

Though Trunks stared down Sasori, the Akatsuki struggling at getting back up to his feet, he could feel his friends flying into the area. It brought a smile to his face. Naruto, Ino, Kakashi, and Fu were there, and now in came Lee and Shinhan.

"Guess pretty boy's kicking off homecoming himself." Shinhan said, Lee and Temari flying up next to him.

Temari's eyes squinted as she got a good look at the swordsman on the ground below. Her eyes widened in disbelief, "_That's _Trunks?" she said to herself. She thought back to the short, scrawny, pasty shy boy she met and fought during the invasion all that time back.

Now, he was this tall, tan, god of a man down on the battlefield.

"He's gotten… bigger…" Temari mumbled to herself. She looked to Sasori. _'That _asshole managed to slice his way through my brother and over a dozen of our top ninja. How strong could Trunks have gotten to take him on so casually?'

Sasori stared bloody murder at the half saiyan across from him, "So… I guess the rumors weren't lies."

The smirk of his father formed on Trunks mouth, "I promise you, whatever you heard about me was watered down."

"A lot less humble than I was told." Sasori said, ripping the fabric away from his mouth, "Let's fix that!"

A jet stream of poisoned senben needles fired from Sasori's throat and at the half-saiyan across from him.

Unfazed, Trunks boby flickered as he dodged the needles by centimeters. He suddenly phased out, appearing right under Sasori, fist pulled back for an uppercut to the chest that launched the Akatsuki up in the air again. Trunks followed up by flip kicking the nin back into the dirt.

Bardock nodded, this battle just as one sided as he'd anticipated.

XXX

"Shit shit SHIT!" Deidara cursed as he sent forth flock after flock of clay birds, the claymation's exploding at or around their target. Unfortunately, his target had a defense against such attacks, and was quickly gaining on him.

Mino's sword sliced through the flock of birds, the pieces exploding violently behind him. He took satisfaction in the look of fear on his enemy's face, an indication that his victory was ensured.

The mohawked alien pulled back his sword, prepped to slice down Deidara.

The Akatsuki put up his arm, a futile effort to block the incoming fatal attack.

A hand clamped down on Deidara's shoulder, much to his and Minotia's surprise.

"Itachi?!"

Minotia looked to the newcomer, the man's haunting red eyes catching his turquoise.

A single black crow flew past Minotia's vision, before a massive swarm of the birds assaulted the alien.

Mino slashed with his sword and swung his arms, trying to keep the birds from pecking or clawing his eyes out.

Almost as quick as the birds came, they suddenly vanished into thin air, as if they were never there to begin with. The pink haired alien's eyes scanned the area, seeing no sign of Deidara.

"Damn." Mino cursed, sheathing his sword back into the holster.

They got him with some sort of mind trickery... the Akatsuki got away.

XXX

Team Shikamaru closed in on the battlefield, the team stopping at a far distance and high enough altitude to avoid being seen.

"Ino…" Choji said softly at the sight of his old teammate.

Neji frowned when he saw what could only be his old teammate. He noticed Lee's separation from Gai influenced the boy's change in appearance.

Sasuke couldn't help the small smirk when he saw Naruto and Trunks. He could instantly tell how much stronger the both of them got, though it was no surprise to him.

Shikamaru was eyeing Trunks manhandling the Akatsuki. He'd known how tough Trunks was, but to see him in action again, dominating one of the most feared rogue ninja on the planet, still left him awestruck.

He shook himself from the distraction, turning to the others, "Its best we deal with the traitors while Trunks is busy."

Bardock noticed the newcomers heading towards the teens of Team Z, the older saiyan raising his eyebrow, 'What are _you _up to?'

XXX

Sasori's face was cracked apart, pieces falling to the ground.

Trunks phased in front of the ninja at the speed of light, fist punching through his chest cavity. To the demi-saiyan's surprise, a smaller figure burst out of the back of Sasori's torso.

It didn't take much for Trunks to realize that whoever he'd been fighting, had been using _this _body as a shell or armor of some sort. Trunks pulled the empty shell of Hiruko off his forearm, and tossed the massive shell behind him.

He stared down the skinny, boyish looking redhead across from him. The _real _Sasori climbed to his feet, staring down the boy who destroyed his shell so easily.

In his movement, Trunks caught a small glance of what was under the robes Sasori wore.

"So, you're a puppet also." Trunks nodded in understanding, "Not much different from _that _oneover there," he nodded to Hiruko. He smirked at Sasori, "Only difference is, I guess _you _have at most _half _a brain under that shell." he tapped his forehead.

A small smile found its way across Sasori's face, "And I guess Itachi and Kisame were right to fear you. You've more than lived up to the rumors. Face of an angel, but fights like a demon." Sasori's face twisted into a maniacal smile, "And you'd certainly make for my most prized possession!"

"I _would_?" Trunks asked in mock awe, "I'm honored." cocky smirk settled back into the young man's features, "But you've gotta _earn _me first. We're at round 2 and I'm _still _not impressed." he nodded his challenge, "Your move, Pinoccio."

Sasori pulled out a scroll from within' his robe. Trunks noticed the symbol for "Third" inscribed on the scrolls front.

XXX

Deidara and Itachi appeared within' the Akatsuki hideout, the blonde man panting heavily from the shock of his recent encounter.

Pain looked to his two newly arrived members, "Sasori is not with you."

Itachi looked to his boss, "Sasori's engaged in a battle with Trunks as we speak."

"Well he's dead." Fuka said callously, "Rest in peace. He had a good run. Such a shame."

"Silence." Pain told her, "You will not disrespect a fellow Akatsuki, Fuka." the man turned to the rest of the members, "Now that we have acquired the One Tail, it is time to seal the beast."

XXX

Trunks was having flashbacks of the Chunin Exams from three years ago.

Standing before him, Sasori wielded a puppet of the Third Kazekage, much like how Kankuro wielded his own puppets all that time back. Trunks suspected the Akatsuki would keep fighting with poison, but he was surprised to see black sand seep out of the puppets mouth and nostrils, the sand gathering up into the air around them like a dark cloud of death.

Trunks felt his sword nearly pull from his grip, urging him to hold the blade handle tighter.

'What is that, some sort of magnet?' Trunks thought to himself.

"You know who this is, don't you?" Sasori asked the lavender-haired warrior.

"Am I supposed to?" Trunks asked casually, not really caring.

"This is the Third Kazekage, known as one of the most powerful shinobi in the Wind Country… or he was, before I killed him." Sasori explained, in a manner like he was explaining a science project. The black haired puppet that was once the Sandaime Kazekage stared down Trunks like an animal ready to pounce its prey, "It was easy. Just an attack in the dead of night and everything he was, is now mine. His body guards, some of the Sand Village's best at the time tried to stop me, and they fell as well. He was still alive when I made him my weapon. The sounds he made, I couldn't tell if they were from pain, or the realization of what would become of him." Sasori's head tilted as he eyed Trunks, "You seem tough. Maybe you can answer that question for me, when you're in his same position."

"You're so lame." Trunks said, cutting Sasori off, "You took someone down in a surprise attack, and now you use what made _them _special for your own ends." the saiyan prince cracked his neck, "Not impressed."

In a lightning fast motion, the sand materialized into a spear that launched for Trunks left leg. The half-saiyan quickly yet casually pulled his leg up to dodge, the spear sticking deep into the ground.

Trunks was a bit surprised by the force he felt in the air from the spear. Had that spear hit its target, it _might've _actually took Trunks leg off at the knee.

The son of Vegeta weaved a scythe blade formed of the sand, before clashing against another swing of the scythe with his sword. Through his peripherals, Trunks could see more streaks of the black sand coming in close at hyperspeed. The streaks hardened into deadly spikes and branches that he had to jump, flip, and maneuver around. There was more than a good chance he was durable enough to withstand the nature of these spikes, but with a chakra and poison backing, Trunks wasn't going to take a chance.

Trunks took up into the air to avoid the massive web of branched spikes that assaulted him.

He dodged and sliced away at the spikes, before holding both hands out to either side, "HYAAAAA!" he fired a massive ki wave that blew away the iron sand.

Temari continued to be dumbfounded while the others cheered, obviously enjoying the show. "Just how powerful can a person…" her thoughts, as well as the others were interrupted by several approaching figures from behind.

Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji were expecting their old comrades to regard them with some sort of surprise, but instead, they were only given… disinterest.

Naruto completely ignored the three as he looked to Sasuke and Tenten, "Sasuke, Ten, how's it hanging? Been a while, eh."

Sasuke let out a slight 'hmph' as a reply, his way of subtly agreeing. Tenten passed the group a corrigible smile, though she wouldn't reply. After all, as far as Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji knew, she had every intention of bringing them in.

Shikamaru sighed, somehow knowing this was gonna go sour, "Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka, Kakashi Hatake, and Rock Lee. You're all under arrest as traitors to the Hidden Leaf Village. You are to be brought back to the village immediately to face trial."

Naruto and the others looked completely unfazed. The Uzumaki looked Shikamaru dead in the eye as he rebutted, "And what's gonna happen _when _we say no." his tone reeked of challenge.

"Don't do this." Shikamaru said.

"Don't make us." Naruto shot back, "Be _safe_, Shikamaru. Be _smart_, Neji. Don't do something you won't live long enough to regret." he finished as he looked to Choji.

"As missing nin, we can bring you in warm… or cold." Neji said, "Is that really how you want this?"

"It's your game." Ino said, fingers hovering over her weapons pouch, "Just tell us when you wanna kick off."

"Ino come _on_." Choji begged, hoping to reach his old teammate and the rest by extension, "We _all _practically grew up together. Why throw away _everything _for someone who's been around for such a short time? You _know _Trunks can take care of himself." Choji held a hand to the ongoing battle, as if to prove his point, "He doesn't need you with him."

"You're right, Choji." Ino nodded, completely agreeing, "Trunks doesn't need me… and if we're telling the truth, maybe in the grand scheme of things I don't actually _need _him either." her eyes narrowed, "But after seeing the way the village treated him and his family, and how the village treats _others_," she said in reference to her whiskered ally, "I've decided maybe it's a matter of principle. It's all behind me now."

"What about your father, huh? Your mother?" Shikamaru asked in one last attempt to reason, "You're telling me-"

"Just give it a rest, Shikamaru." Ino said with a slight wave of her hand, "Of all the things for _you _to put energy into, this isn't it."

"So be it…" The Nara said, eyeing his old teammate with pity. Choji passed Ino a look of sadness, one the girl ignored.

Temari looked to the Leaf nin, 'Knowing how to fly would _really _be useful right about now.' she thought.

As if sensing her thoughts, Lee asked her, "This conflict does not concern you. If I were to let you go, could you land safely?"

Temari nodded, before she let go of Lee. She free fell to the ground, flipping before she landed to cut momentum.

She watched as the Leaf nin clashed.

Naruto and Sasuke's swords met in a shower of sparks, the two teens pushing against each other in a struggle to overpower,

"_We still cool right?" _Naruto whispered to his old friend.

"...Depends on how much better you got." Sasuke answered with a small smirk, earning him a grin from Naruto.

Choji's arm expanded to the length and girth of a tree trunk in a punch aimed at Fu. The Seven tailed Jinchuriki swiftly dodged the punch, the force enough to send a shockwave through the air. The mint-haired girl ran along the length of Choji's arm, kicking the teen in the jaw before flipping and catching him in a headlock. She used the momentum to throw him down towards ground level, her wings flapping as she flew down after him.

Two thrown kunai collided, the blades breaking on contact.

Ino and Tenten stared each other down, the two girls having pulled another pair of kunai to replace the ones they'd thrown. They knew they weren't enemies. This would be all about putting on a show.

The two girls flew in close, their kunai clashing together in a shower of sparks and meta. scrapes.

Ino saw a shadow move in from behind Tenten, flipping over her to get at Ino from above. The Yamanaka's fingers formed a dog-sign, before locking eyes with Neji in mid-air,

"**Restraining Art: Psychic Eyes!" **

Neji's form froze mid-flip, the Hyuga prodigy suspended in the air. Ino launched herself back to gain distance before the jutsu wore off, the Hyuga finishing his motion.

He was in front of Tenten, the teen caught off guard by that move. When he got an eyefull of Ino, the Yamanaka was already wrapping up with another set of handseals,

"**Ninja Art: Swords of Light!" **

Neji's pearled eyes widened as swords formed from a purple light formed around Ino, the blades at least three feet long and spinning around her rapidly to protect her from up close combat.

Neji held his hands in preparation of a distant attack, only, to his surprise, Ino raised her hands also, two of the swords of light following and aiming directly for Neji,

"Try it." The Yamanaka challenged.

Fu found herself frozen, unable to continue her assault on Choji. She noticed her shadow was connected to that of Shikamaru's, the Nara using his signature technique to protect his best friend.

Choji shook off the damage, the teen pulling wire linked kunai from his weapons pouch. He quickly wrapped himself up with the knives, before expanding, **"Human Boulder!" **He launched himself at the jinchuriki, the girl frozen in time.

Shikamaru's gasped as a green mass appeared at his side, roundhouse kicking him in the face, **"Leaf Hurricane!" **Rock Lee cried, the blow knocking Shikamaru off his feet and disrupting his jutsu.

Fu flipped out of the way of Choji's assault, dodging by mere nanoseconds.

Lee passed the girl a thumbs up, a gesture she returned.

XXX

Trunks came down over Sasori with a flip kick, the saiyan's blow being stopped just a few inches from his target in a massive burst of iron sand that sprung up to protect Sasori, much like Gaara's sand protected him.

Two spikes of sand shot out at bullet speed, aiming for Trunks eyes. In an incredible show of speed, Trunks fazed out and reappeared several feet away to dodge, kneeled low with his sword held to his side.

Moving at the speed of light, Trunks shot in through Sasori's defenses, appearing behind the Akatsuki and his puppet, the saiyan now holding his sword at his opposite side.

A glance behind, and Trunks saw Sasori and his puppet both sliding in half at the waist. "And that's a wrap," Trunks stated as he prepared to resheathe his sword.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid." the half-saiyan heard Bardock call out.

Trunks turned around to see Sasori's two halves levitate up, before reconnecting back together,

Trunks sighed, "For God's sake, die already…"

"Not yet…" the Akatsuki said calmly, though he was actually frightened. Trunks had picked apart every maneuver Sasori had made. He was 110% on the defensive, and Trunks physical capabilities trumped any offensive attack he could throw out.

He was now down to his final card…

A cord from his stomach slithered out and pulled a scroll from his back, opening it as a compartment in his right peck opened as well.

Immediately, a flurry of puppets rapidly shot out of the scroll, filling the battlefield and the sky for several hundred yards. There were so many puppets, most of the sky from Trunks perspective blotted out, shading most of the area. There were puppets next to and behind him, and close at that.

It bothered Sasori that Trunks didn't seem the least bit disturbed.

"I used this technique to bring down an entire country." Sasori said, hoping to shake the demi-saiyan, "Though given the state of the world now, I've had to up my numbers three fold." Trunks eye twitched a bit. He eyed these puppets, knowing exactly what they were made of. All of these people dead, because of this bastard. Sasori held his forehead, "It is a shame, really, that I've had to resort to this for just _one _man."

"No it's not." Trunks snorted, "You took down a country, big deal. If I wanted to, I could bring down this entire _planet_. No, what _is_ a shame," he blinked, and his blue eyes turned jade, "is the fact you _ever _thought you stood a chance here."

XXX

Naruto and Sasuke stopped their clash, Naruto's palm filled with a Rasengan while Sasuke's was filled with a crackling Chidori. They and the others turned to the rapidly rising source of power.

"What the hell is that?!" Tenten shouted when she saw the hundreds of puppets, each one equipped with a bladed weapon; from scythes, to swords, to knives, to sai's, to metal whips all dripping with purple steaming poison.

"That fool," Neji growled, "He's fighting an entire army!"

Temari stood mouth agape, 'How… how is he supposed to take all of that on?!' she thought. She stole a quick glance to his friends, none of them showing the slightest bit of worry, 'And they aren't worried at _all_?'

Trunks let out a battlecry as he violently ascended into Super Saiyan, the force of his aura vaporizing and destroying over a half a dozen puppets closest to him.

Sasori's eyes widened in astonishment, the golden kekkai genkei that he'd heard so much about now finally before him to bear witness.

XXX

"Alright, that's all of the toxin from his liver," Karin said, holding a liquid orb of water filled with the purple colored poison. She dumped it into a bucket they'd been using as a waste container.

"Good." Sakura said, the young woman aiming to strip toxin from his liver, "Ino managed to neutralize it so it's not spreading, but it's still managed to hit almost every vital-"

A spark of energy hit Sakura's sixth sense. She turned to the redhead across from her, Karin looking back at her from the realization of its familiarity.

Trunks was back...

XXX

Like a swarm of furious hornets, the other 300 puppets mobbed Trunks, the half-saiyan becoming a hardly trackable blur of gold that picked apart every puppet that got within striking distance.

Elbows and fists to the head, kicks to the torso, sword slash decapitations, and ki blasts to vaporize made short work of several dozens of the puppets. Trunks suddenly shot up high into the sky in a gold blur, the force of his aura taking out another several dozen puppets as he climbed almost 20 miles higher into the sky.

Those closer to ground level could barely make out the glowing blue emanating from Trunks arms, the saiyan pulling them both back in preparation of a blast,

"**Buster Cannon!"**

A massive blue wave of energy shot down to the ground, detonating in a very controlled cylinder of destruction that wiped out over half the army of puppets, but left those around safe from harm.

Sasori had managed to barely dodge the wave of energy. If the man could sweat, he would be…

Years of work gathering and constructing those puppets, only for half of them to be wiped out in the blink of an eye…

The other half of his army flew up at Trunks, almost 150 dangerous puppets, but the half-saiyan picked them apart with just as much ease.

Bardock watched the show, growing bored. He got up to his feet and sauntered over to where the other teens were.

XXX

Shikamaru shook his head, "Surprise surprise." he watched as the person of mass destruction handled his business.

"No way…" Choji breathed in awe as he watched wooden limbs and pieces fall from the sky, "How could anyone be this strong?"

"How do you think," a new voice cut in, grabbing the attention of the Leaf shinobi. They looked to see the man that arrived with Trunks approaching them, "He may be half-bred, but the kid's still got the blood of nature's greatest warrior race running through his veins."

'Oh God…' Tenten grimaced, 'It's _him…_'

Shikamaru, Neji, and Choji's guards went up. Sasuke was wary of the man, knowing who he was, already.

"Who are you?" Neji asked.

With a roll of her eyes, Shinhan answered for him, "His name's Bardock. He's a saiyan that's been training Trunks."

"What?!" Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji said in disbelief. 'There's _another _like Trunks?'

Before Shikamaru could say anything, Ino called out, "Quiet guys, Trunks is getting ready to wrap things up!"

XXX

Sasori looked back… it had been a long time since he'd considered running from a battle… but…

"You know…" Sasori heard Trunks say from behind him. The redhead turned to see the saiyan slowly lowering himself down to the ground, "you were supposed to _earn _my being a puppet, but, so far, I'm not impressed…" the son of Vegeta took a step forward, Sasori taking a step back in response. Trunks stopped, his head tilting in curiosity, "That fear I see? Never expected that out of a doll, guess you're more of a _real boy _than I gave you credit for…"

Trunks fazed out and appeared low in front of Sasori, fist prepped in a fiery orange glow, "Game over." Sasori was hit under the chin with an uppercut that almost knocked his entire head off, but the blow tore off his entire bottom jaw, and sent him flying and flipping uncontrollably up in the air for several hundred stories. Once he hit the peak of his altitude, Sasori looked up to see the Brief's boy coming down from above with his sword.

Before the Akatsuki puppet even knew what hit him, Trunks sword had already passed through him.

The puppet looked the Brief's boy in the eye, the fact that he was already dead now settling in him. The image of the golden swordsman before him slowly started to split in half, one half of the image sliding down before the two halves came apart.

The images began to fade, changing to an image of something completely different. The left half changed to that of a woman with long dark hair, and the right half changed to that of a man with red hair much like Sasori's own...

Trunks followed up his attack with several more hyper sword slashes, reducing the Akatsuki puppet to wood chunks and cloth. To finish the job, he held his palm flat under his arm, "Arrivederci" before blasting Sasori into dust that blew into the wind…

Ino grinned in joy, watching as Trunks made easy work of the Akatsuki. The half-saiyan twirled his sword before holstering it, allowing his super saiyan form to melt off his body.

The half-saiyan touched down to the ground that was littered with puppet pieces.

"Trunks!"

He smiled as he turned to the familiar faces making their way towards him.

He expected a simple handshake from Naruto, but the blonde teenager hugged him, Fu, Lee, and Shinhan doing the same as well.

"Whoa, hey, take it easy!" Trunks said with a laugh, "I think you're breaking my ribs!"

"Deal with it!" Fu said, "It's _your _fault for taking forever!"

"What took you so long, pretty boy?" Naruto scolded lightheartedly.

Trunks rolled his eyes and smiled, "Saw that one coming." he laughed.

"Hey, long hair," Tavi pointed out, giving the saiyans hair a firm pull, "You really set _yourself _up for that one."

"Fair enough." the saiyan relented with a slight chuckle, "But me and Bardock got caught up in-"

"Hey, hush your mouth!" the older saiyan barked at his student, "We don't talk about what happens during _my _training, ya' got that!"

Trunks lightly shook his head, seeing that one coming, "Well, just know there was a _good _reason for that." _*I'll fill you guys in later* _He quickly added in telepathically.

After a few seconds, Trunks noticed they were still in a group hug, "So, ya guys plan on letting go any time soon?" he chuckled lightheartedly.

"Yeah, they do!"

The others cried out in shock as they suddenly went flying through the air, Trunks himself in just as much surprise at the sudden act. He turned to Ino, who was holding her arm and standing bashfully in front of him.

"Sorry," she said as she walked up to him, catching the young man in a tight hug, "_I don't like sharing._" she whispered in his ear.

Trunks cheeks turned red from the close contact, more from her _matured_ assets than anything else.

She pulled back, looking Trunks up and down, "You look great!" she stood up on her tip toes, the young woman noticing she just barely reached Trunks at his chin, 'Wow, he's so tall now!'

"So do you." he looked her up and down, "You look incredible." He noticed, while she was slim and femininely built, having developed noticeable abs in her waist, she had filled out with curves in her chest and hips.

Ino's eyes brightened, "Really!" she got giddy, "Ya really think so?!"

A nod from Trunks made her mentally jump for joy, 'Thank you Lady Tsunade!'

_(Three Years Ago)_

Ino, Sakura, and Karin dragged themselves back through the Capsule home, exhausted after the day's training. Tsunade and Shizune followed in behind them. Bulma and Shinhan had been in the kitchen, cooking up dinner.

The blue haired genius saw the girls enter, "Hey ladies, how was training?"

All she received in response were a trio of groans.

"Rough. Got it." Bulma said as she drained the water from the noodles.

Tsunade took a seat at the table, "They're just a buncha snowflakes that can't take a punch." the woman said, "Food almost ready?"

"Pretty much done now!" Shinhan said as she added the chicken grilled chicken to the dish.

"Good." Tsunade said as she turned to her students, "Sit down."

Karin, Sakura, and Ino took seats at the dining room table as Bulma brought plates and large dishes with noodles and chicken.

Sakura and Karin happily put generous portions of food on their plates and dug in, something Tsunade was satisfied in seeing. The sannin looked to Ino, noticing the very small bit of food she'd put on her plate.

An unusual sight for a growing young woman that just finished an intense workout.

"Ino," Tsunade got the girls attention, "why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not that hungry." was the Yamanaka's response.

Tsunade eyed her, the woman now making more sense of Ino's very skinny figure, "You 'haven't been that hungry' for a while now. Wanna tell me why?"

"I just don't wanna get fat, that's all." Ino said innocently.

Tsunade wanted to face palm, '_Of course _it's about impressing the guy.' she had to nip this in the bud. She pinched her brow as she sighed in frustration, "I cannot _believe _I'm actually giving _guy _advice," she looked to Ino seriously so she'd listen, "look, Ino, I promise you I know what I'm talking about, so hear me on this. If you wanna impress a guy, you _aren't _gonna do it by playing anorexic. Most guys, actually prefer a woman with meat on her bones, rather than a woman that looks like they'd snap in half when things get physical. Get it?"

"Really?" Ino asked, Bulma and Shizune turning to her,

"Oh yeah." the three women said knowingly.

At this, Ino quickly cleaned her plate and went back for seconds.

X

Naruto and the others groaned before getting back to their feet. Trunks turned to Shinhan, noticing what was on her forehead,

"Whoa, what happened there?" Trunks asked the girl as he pointed to his forehead.

The daughter of Tien brushed her blue hair away from her forehead, "I got the third eye, duh." she said casually, '_Laugh at it, I dare you_!' she growled in her head.

"Cool!" Trunks said, "That a puberty thing, or…"

"Oh boy…" Fu started, "wasn't _that _an event."

"Yes," Lee added in, "You see, when her and Kakashi were training-"

X

_(Two Years Ago)_

Fu, #16, and Lee watched as Kakashi and the daughter of Launch sparred, the three waiting for their chance at a round with the silver haired ninja.

"**Destructo Disk!" **

"**Raikiri!" **Kakashi sliced through the deadly disk of ki, heading in a lightning fast beeline for his target.

Tavi shot up into the air, Kakashi missing her completely by just a fraction of a second. Just as she cupped her hands, forming a Kamehameha, the silver haired ninja twisted his upper body, thrusting his lightning charged prosthetic at the teenager.

Shinhan's blue eyes widened at the Raikiri shooting at her in a bolt of blinding light. By the merest fraction of a second, she dodged the attack, eyes following it as it reached the atmosphere of the planet in half a second, the light from the detonation filling the sky.

The instant she turned around, she was eye to eye with Kakashi's sharingan, the wheels in the iris spinning,

"Match over." he said, his dojutsu neutralizing his opponent.

Shinhan's vision faded out, the girl's blue eyes rolling into the back of her head as she fell out of the sky.

Her eyes slowly opened, the surprised expressions of everyone from Kakashi, to Fu, to #16, to Lee all she was greeted with.

"Wh-What? What are you guys looking at?" she asked groggily. She felt like she had a hangover. The four pointed to their foreheads, confusing the teen.

When she blinked, she felt it, and she gasped. Something was on her forehead that shouldn't have been there before…

She jumped out of Lee's arms and ran to the nearby stream, peering into it to gaze at her reflection.

Her screams sent every bird in a mile radius into a flock.

X

"Damn." Trunks said, "That eye do anything for you?"

"Well, aside from seeing through bullshit," the teen joked, "it's allowed me to use an old technique my dad left for me in one of his journals…"

"But…" Lee wanted her to finish. He made her promise him that she would never use the technique under any circumstances.

"_But_," Shinhan sighed, "the attack could very easily kill me if I use it. Tri beam's the name." the blue haired woman looked past Trunks, the saiyan following her gaze, he turned around to see Temari approaching him, the two expressing similar feelings of awkwardness.

Before he could say anything, the Leaf ninja made their approach.

Sasuke passed the half-saiyan a nod, a gesture Trunks returned.

"Heya Trunks." Tenten greeted, barely containing her excitement. She still had to keep character, so she restrained herself from hugging him.

Choji was much more nervous, "Hi, uh Trunks." He knew that Trunks, just like the rest of the warrior's friends, viewed the Leaf as enemies.

The Akimichi _really _didn't wanna fight Trunks…

Kakashi walked past Choji and approached his old student, the two clasping hands to share a firm handshake, "It's good to have you back, kid." the silver haired ninja said.

"It's good to be back, sensei." Trunks said, "How's mom?"

"Just fine. Watched over her like she were my own." Kakashi said, clapping Trunks on the back.

"Trunks!" all eyes went to the new voice that cut into the air. They saw a light-skinned mohawked man touch down on the ground in front of Trunks.

"The hell is he?" Temari asked Shinhan, only to get a shrug in response. Whoever this man was, he wasn't human. It didn't take Temari much brain power to put together that this man had to have been an alien, someone Trunks brought back from his so-called 'Space Training'. She didn't even have the presence of mind to be stunned at the fact that the human race wasn't alone in the universe…

"Mino, what's going on?" Trunks asked the alien, "You couldn't get to Gaara?"

The mohawked alien shook his head, "Had his taker dead to rights, but a third party intervened, used some sort of illusion, or hallucinogen to throw me off."

"Genjutsu." Trunks, Kakashi, and Sasuke said in unison.

"Sounds like Itachi's work." Sasuke said calmly, though his blood was pumping. He was ready to settle this score, and he was ready now.

"You dumb chump." Bardock shot at Mino, "That's what happens when you leave a-"

"_Not _the time for racism, Bardock." Trunks sighed, interrupting the saiyan.

"But it _is _time to get a move on." Ino said, Temari nodding her agreement.

Just as Ino turned, Shikamaru grabbed her arm, stopping her in place, "Not so fast, you all need to return to the village."

A one-handed push to the chest from Trunks sent the young genius back to the ground, hard.

Neji nearly stepped up to retaliate for Shikamaru, but an arm in front of his chest from Choji stopped him.

"_They _aren't going anywhere they don't wanna go." Trunks said firmly, "Drop it, unless you wanna run your odds against me..."

'Well, he's definitely gotten more… assertive.' Kakashi noted. Ino smirked at the act, she herself noticing the difference in Trunks demeanor.

Neji and Shikamaru looked combative, but before the two could do or say anything to dig a hole for themselves, Tenten spoke up, "Our main objective was to keep the Akatsuki from getting Gaara. We can settle _this _issue later."

"If you all wanna link up, I'm fine with it." Trunks said, "As long as _these _two don't try to start something."

Neji spoke, eyes staring down Trunks "Let's just say, as long as the Akatsuki are the _main _goal, you won't have us to worry about."

Naruto, Lee, and Kakashi glared at him, but looked to Trunks and nodded.

"Alright," Trunks said, looking from the group to the horizon, "Let's hunt us some Akatsuki."

XXX

A/N: I know, I know… long ass wait. Again. I'm sorry, I really am. Had an **extremely** rough year.

Thank you all for being patient with me, this update was a long one coming. All I can do is hope that you found the wait worthwhile.

Until next time, drop a review and lemme know your thoughts.

Attack Glossary:

**Restraining Art: Psychic Eyes: **This is an attack based on General Blue's ability from the original DragonBall. This technique requires that Ino make contact with a target of equal or lesser strength, and once she does, her target becomes paralyzed for a very short duration. Typically, Ino would follow this attack up with a mind-transfer, seeing as how she won't have Shikamaru there to assist with a Shadow Possession.

**Ninja Art: Swords of Light: **An attack inspired by Vergil's (Devil May Cry) Summoned Swords. Ino forms purple, chakra generated blades that she can either use defensively or offensively. The swords are lightning in nature, and capable of detonating on command.


End file.
